Introducing SemiXperts, refurbished semiconductor equipment and service

SemiXperts is a company in Dordrecht, in the Netherlands, that refurbishes, upgrades, maintains and installs semiconductor process equipment. We work for the cleanrooms that rarely get a vendor's full attention: university teaching and research labs, pilot lines, start-ups building their first process, and small fabs running 150 and 200 mm tools.

This first post on our blog explains what we do, how we work and what you can expect from us, whether you are looking for a refurbished tool, need service on one you already own or have equipment you no longer use.

Why refurbished equipment and service

Research and pilot-line cleanrooms run on tools that are often ten, twenty or thirty years old. That is not a weakness. A well-kept mask aligner, RIE system or e-beam evaporator from the 1990s can still produce good results at the feature sizes and wafer sizes most research needs, and at a fraction of the facilities and budget a new production tool would demand.

What these labs need is someone who knows the older platforms and treats them as working equipment: who can inspect a used tool honestly, replace what is worn, upgrade what has become a liability, and keep it running afterwards. Many legacy platforms are no longer supported by their makers. That leaves a gap between the tools that labs actually run and the service those tools can get.

SemiXperts exists to fill that gap. We are independent and not affiliated with any equipment manufacturer. Manufacturer names on our site identify the tools we work on.

What we sell and service

We work across the process areas a research or pilot-line fab typically needs:

• Lithography: mask aligners, laser writers, i-line steppers and spin coaters.
• Etch: RIE, ICP-RIE and deep reactive ion etch systems, and plasma ashers.
• Deposition: sputter systems, e-beam evaporators, PECVD and ALD tools, and cluster platforms.
• Thermal processing: diffusion and LPCVD furnaces and rapid thermal processors.
• Ion implantation: medium-current and research implanters.
• Wet processing and CMP: spin rinse dryers, spray processors, CMP and lapping systems.
• Metrology and inspection: ellipsometers, profilers, reflectometers, four-point probes and SEMs.
• Back-end and packaging: dicing saws, wire bonders, die bonders and wafer bonders.

Our equipment pages describe each category and the platforms we know best, with typical configurations, wear points and upgrade paths. We work with wafer sizes from 50 mm (2 in) to 200 mm (8 in).

How we sell a tool

Buying used process equipment should not be a gamble. Most tools we sell go through these steps; the grade states how far each one has gone:

1. You tell us the process. Wafer size, materials, the results you need and the facilities you have. We shortlist tools that fit, and we will tell you if a tool you are considering does not.
2. We inspect and report. We power the tool up where it is safe to do so and check it against its original specification. The findings go into a written inspection report that you receive before you commit.
3. We refurbish to an agreed scope. Worn parts are replaced, chambers cleaned and the tool recalibrated, to a scope you approve in advance.
4. We crate, ship and install. We crate the tool for transport, ship it and hook it up at your site.

Every tool carries one of four condition grades, and we use the words consistently:

• Certified: refurbished and run on a test process; results are in the report.
• Refurbished: worn parts replaced, cleaned and recalibrated to the original specification.
• Inspected: powered up and checked against the original specification; sold with the report.
• As-is: not powered up; sold with photos and the known service history.

How we inspect explains what each grade involves and what each report contains.

Service for tools you already own

Most of the tools in a cleanroom will never be replaced, so service matters as much as sales. Our services fall into four lines:

• Refurbishment: chamber and vacuum system rebuilds, decontamination, and test and certification for tools you want to bring back to specification.
• Upgrades: control system retrofits, wafer size conversions, UV-LED light sources for mask aligners, dry pump conversions and endpoint detection.
• Maintenance: preventive maintenance plans, repair and troubleshooting, spare parts, calibration, service contracts and remote support.
• Installation: de-installation and crating, rigging and transport, hook-up, commissioning and operator training.

We scope each job in writing before we start, and we document what we did and what we found when we finish. For teaching cleanrooms, operator training is often as valuable as the hardware work, and we build it in where it helps.

Selling a tool you no longer use

Idle tools take up cleanroom floor space and still cost money to keep safe. If you have a tool you no longer use, you can send us its details: photos, the nameplate and any service history.

Our engineers assess demand, condition and what de-installation involves, and we make a purchase offer or propose a consignment sale, in writing. If we go ahead, we de-install, crate and collect the tool. Giving a working tool a second life in another lab is better use of it than leaving it under a dust cover.

What we will and will not say

Being clear about what we do not do is part of how we work. We do not publish prices on the site; we quote each tool and each job against its scope.

We do not claim certifications we do not hold, and where we refer to standards such as SEMI S2 or the EU Machinery Regulation, we say we work to them or can help you document compliance. We do not name customers or publish testimonials until we have real ones to share, with permission. When we are not sure of a specification, we leave it out rather than guess.

The same rules apply to this blog. We will write practical posts about buying used tools, the processes behind them, keeping older equipment running and moving it safely between sites. Where a topic touches regulation, such as export controls, we will give a general overview and say so, not legal advice.

What we can do

If you are planning a new cleanroom, extending a pilot line or trying to keep an older tool alive, we would like to hear what you are working on. The more we know at the start, the more useful our first answer will be: the process and materials, the wafer size, the facilities you have, and for an existing tool, the model, its history and what it is or is not doing.

From there we can shortlist refurbished tools that fit, scope a repair or upgrade, or plan a move. Tell us about the process, the tool or the problem through our contact page, and an engineer will reply.