by Debra Vogler, senior technical editor, Small Times
September 1, 2009 – Nemotek Technologie, a manufacturer of customized wafer-level cameras for portable applications, announced a partnership with electronic component distributor Anglia to open a logistics center in Hong Kong. The new center will provide Nemotek Technologie’s customized wafer-level packaging (WLP) and wafer-level optics (WLO) to approved customers in Asia.
To be the volume producer of wafer-level cameras, the Morocco-based company must have a strong presence in Asia, as well as Europe and the US, according to Jacky Perdrigeat, Nemotek CEO. The company already has operations in Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and China.
The company’s WLO and WLP solutions are based on reflow-compatible materials, allowing for customization and flexibility while maintaining a small form factor. Bypassing configured design rules, the WLO and WLP solutions are mounted directly to application assembly boards, utilizing fewer components. Because the company has in-house capabilities for TSV, wafer-level packaging, and wafer-level optics, it can do all the operations needed to assemble the camera; is also can 100% test its cameras. These capabilities are advantageous as they eliminate the need for end-users to go to several different suppliers for each assembly operation.
Aside from mobile phones, next in line for the company’s business strategy is notebooks and medical applications, Perdrigeat told Small Times; after that will be automotive applications, for which it takes much longer to attain product qualification. (As a start-up company it’s important to be in fast-growing markets, he noted.) Estimating the timeline for products in each sector, Perdrigeat projected mobile phone products will ready by the end of 2009, followed by notebook products sometime around 2Q10, medical products not before the end of 2010, and automotive products not before 2012. — D.V.