By Mark Diorio

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Time-to-market is indisputably the key issue facing the semiconductor industry. In the midst of the Internet revolution, opportunities abound for those semiconductor companies that can provide rapid solutions to these new-world demands. A late-to-market situation can erode margins, market share, competitive advantage and customer loyalty; never has this been more true than it is today within our industry. The company that can react swiftly to Internet-related market demands stands to make significant strides in the information technology race.

Considering the time-to-market cycle – which includes design, analysis, implementation, verification, manufacturing and company infrastructure – the true management challenges lie in identifying the bottlenecks within the time-to-market cycle, defining the critical pathways for efficient results and eliminating fatal events. While it is generally recognized that the most successful managers focus their application of resources to the bottlenecks in the delivery of committed service, those within our technology segment are presented with the fact that there is a severe shortage of skilled and experienced human resources. At the monthly Silicon Valley job fair, 300 to 400 companies -each with 15 to 20 job openings – come in search of employees (85 percent of whom will fill technical positions).

In packaging engineering, the shortage of human resources has approached critical proportions. In the U.S., there is a severe shortage of experienced packaging engineers, as the engineering base has tended to migrate into more “elegant” (or more highly visible) disciplines, such as wafer fab and design. Although we have transferred most of our packaging responsibilities and functions to the assembly locations in southeast Asia, the strong manufacturing skill-sets of those engineers do not necessarily aid in the design and analysis of the development cycle in a time-to-market situation. Today's packaging engineer specializing in new product development must have strong material and electrical engineering fundamentals, as opposed to the mechanical and manufacturing aptitude previously so regarded in our field. So how can a company meet its time-to-market requirements without the appropriate resources?

Today's business model for the semiconductor industry emphasizes services to be outsourced. The most successful and best-managed semiconductor companies have no in-house manufacturing of wafers or packages. In fact, some of these companies are even beginning to contract out their product engineering requirements. The outsource model is now well-proven and accepted, and this has led companies to begin to outsource their packaging engineering requirements.

Who is outsourcing packaging engineering? Established fabless companies, start-ups, and material and equipment providers for multi-national corporations. Even wafer and assembly foundries. All of these companies are requiring additional technical resources to meet their market and customer commitments. These companies are requiring additional experience to avoid mistakes in the time-to-market cycle. They want to be assured that the path they are taking is the correct one, because any delay in time-to-market can be critical. Provided you engage the proper group, outsourcing your packaging engineering requirements can provide a variety of support services to meet your needs. Packaging engineering contract services that are available today include:

• Aid and support in technology, manufacturing, logistics, reliability, strategic direction, alliances and partnerships.
• Providing companies a complete understanding of IC packaging and assembly, equipment and materials.
• Aid in defining manufacturing/process technology improvements, CSP design, WLP processing and new equipment developments.
• Aid in new product development and support for all aspects of new product implementation (process flow, specifications, reliability, equipment, material selection, etc.).
• Assistance in benchmarking and with technology transfer projects.
• Defining applications of synergy and enabling requirements.

Of course, if you engage the wrong group; do not clearly define your project, expectations, timing and deliverables; do not fund the project properly; maintain a narrow perspective on technology alternatives; or subject the group to the same company infrastructure limitations with which your own internal groups struggle, then you run the risk of not achieving your prescribed goal(s). And while there are companies providing complete packaging engineering services, they should not be confused with the rogue consultant or even the support engineers provided by your subcontractor. Companies providing complete packaging engineering support services have a broad base of technical support departments available to you and they are not driven by their own manufacturing portfolio.

If you are concerned that contracting out your packaging engineering or seeking packaging engineering help is a reflection of your own capabilities and may be viewed by your company's management as a lack of your competence, this is unlikely. Truly, the most successful and respected managers in the semiconductor industry do not hesitate to seek the best resources available to them to address their company's (and their shareholders') challenges. However, companies that are locked in bureaucracy or politics, or who suffer from the dreaded NIH (not invented here) syndrome, will not be able to engage and use the services of such organizations to their advantage.

It goes without saying that outsourcing your packaging engineering can help you in meeting your time-to-market demands. Wealth from manufacturing today is more dependent upon adaptability and speed of execution than on the sheer quantity of capital or technology possessed. When considered, outsourcing packaging engineering can:

• Provide an extra dimension to your technical problem-solving ability.
• Aid in bringing your product to market rapidly.
• Reduce the amount of error-causing facets or nodes associated with new product introduction.
• Act as a mentor to your existing internal groups and aid in technical benchmarking.
• Reduce your overhead structure.

Packaging engineering services can provide you cost-effective support on demand. Consider it as a valid option in your next project.
AP

MARK DiORIO, chief executive officer, can be contacted at MTBSolutions Inc., 1630 Oakland Road, San Jose, CA 95131-2450; 408-441-2173; Fax: 408-441-9700; E-mail: [email protected].