Successful GTAW Implementation Through Expert Configuration

Since its introduction in aerospace manufacturing during the 1960′s, orbital welding has allowed for the advancement of efficiency in even the most complex and demanding manufacturing processes. In no manufacturing process is this as evident than in the process for manufacturing semiconductors and solid state components, wherein welds must be smaller and more precise than any human could conceivably implement. Whereas for other, larger metal technologies – like planes and boilers – orbital welders offer not only precision but economic efficiency, orbital welding in the semiconductor process is not only efficient but necessary. To accommodate advances in semiconductor technology, orbital welders must follow suit, becoming more and more precise with each new generation of arch machines and weld heads.

Advancements in welding technology have been  facilitated in large part by the advancements in gas delivery, which allow a weld head to produce a microscopic arc to fit very small components or tubes together or to the substrate. First, local inert gas purification provides a high-purity welding environment that keeps the arc consistent and prevents the material being welded from becoming contaminated by contact with hydrogen, oxygen, or other atmospheric gasses. Second, advancements in mass flow controllers have made it possible for gasses to be dispensed in molecular amounts, allowing for a microscopic conductive environment through which arc current can travel in the inert environment to implement the weld.

A weld head for semiconductor applications differs from other industrial counterparts mostly in its precision. This precision takes a number of forms. First, the the tungsten electrode that creates the arc will usually be smaller and sharper than it is for other applications, since this focuses current and produces smaller welds that would be far too small to support the weight of heavy metals, etc. Second, the head will usually be designed to provide a high degree of protection against gas leakage (fit tightly) because the gasses used to generate an electric arc for semiconductor manufacturing are usually volatile and often lethal to human clean room workers. Third, a semiconductor welding head will be manufactured for maximum durability, since the stresses of welding could cause defects to the head that would compromise not only safety but weld quality, rendering a welding component unsaleable.

Selecting the right welding components for a specific production process is as much a science as the science behind welding itself. Each manufacturer’s head will have its own setup that will need to be integrated into the entire process – a configuration that should only be left to experts. Employing a vendor who also offers expert configuration ensures that the system is not only the safest but also the most efficient for any given production process.