June 21, 2005 – The Semiconductor Equipment Consortium for Advanced Packaging (SECAP) has announced that it will disband now that the consortium has successfully established 300mm wafer-level packaging as a functional technology, and full-volume production on the first installed wafer-bumping line is underway.

Established in July 2000 by leading equipment suppliers to the advanced packaging industry, SECAP aimed to address challenges in the development and validation of process equipment for the industry’s conversion to wafer level packaging (WLP) and 300mm wafer technology.

Member companies were Semitool, SUSS MicroTec, Image Technology, Unaxis, EKRA, BTU International, and the Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration (IZM) in Berlin. Later Nexx Systems joined the consortium along with many consumables suppliers.

Since July 2002, SECAP members worked closely together with Amkor/Unitive to develop a 300mm wafer bumping line that addresses the technical demands of WLP. The line is equipped for electroplated solder bumping and was set up at Unitive Semiconductor Taiwan (UST), located in Hsinchu, Taiwan.

After line qualification in May 2003, it was open for a short period for interested parties to view and to verify its capabilities. Amkor acquired the line at the end of 2004 and it is now in high volume production. With this acquisition, SECAP has accomplished its mission to demonstrate to the advanced packaging industry a cost-effective equipment solution for 300mm electroplated solder bumping.

For the past 5 years, SECAP has been the main source of information on wafer bumping and wafer level packaging technologies, hosting numerous seminars throughout the world. All resources gathered throughout SECAP’s activities will be archived on the SECAP website – www.secap.org – that will remain an active link. SECAP members will also continue to work closely together on other projects as and when determined.