NOVEMBER 7--Photon Dynamics (San Jose, CA; www.photondynamics.com), a supplier of integrated yield-management solutions for the flat-panel-display (FPD) market, has announced that a liquid-crystal-display (LCD) manufacturer has selected its PanelMaster system for automated cell inspection in high-volume production of LCD TV panels. Given its success for defect detection and classification under volume-production conditions, this customer has placed repeat orders for additional PanelMaster tools as part of its fab expansion efforts.
According to Charles Annis, vice president of DisplaySearch, an Austin, TX-based market-research company and part of the NPD Group, yield management will become increasingly critical among LCD manufacturers for LCD TV adoption to become mainstream. "Traditionally, cell and module inspection in LCD fabs has been manual (human operator) rather than automated. However, the explosion of panel sizes and resolution, human subjectivity over quality, the high cost of training, and rising labor rates for experienced manual operators all pose formidable challenges. Yield is not just lost revenue. LCD manufacturing is also subject to a high cost of materials. Defective LCDs, especially in larger displays, become quite costly and drive up both panel and end-product costs," said Annis.
"If properly implemented, automated cell and module inspection has the potential to significantly increase quality and yield, while lowering costs," he continued.
