Increasing global concern about the environment is fueling regulatory and consumer pressure on the electronics industry, primarily in Europe and Japan, to reduce the use of lead in all products. As Europe and Japan have moved aggressively toward lead-free electronics, semiconductor manufacturers now require reliable high-volume sources of lead-free flip chip and wafer-level packaging solutions. FlipChip International was one of the first wafer bumping solution providers to qualify a lead-free process, and now has eight customers fully qualified with its lead-free technology.

(March 19, 2004) San Jose, Calif.&#8212North American-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $1.31 billion in orders in February 2004 and a book-to-bill ratio of 1.14, according to SEMI.