January 18, 2011 — STATS ChipPAC Ltd. (SGX-ST:STATSChP), semiconductor test and advanced packaging service provider, expanded its wafer level package (WLP) offering with new 300mm manufacturing capabilities in Taiwan.
The 300mm WLP operation is located in Hsin-chu Hsien in proximity to leading wafer foundries and supplements the company’s current 300mm wafer bumping operation.
The 300mm WLP offering includes new process technologies such as low cure temperature polymers and the use of copper for under bump metallization (UBM) and redistribution layers (RDL) to achieve higher densities and increased package reliability.
"Wafer level packaging has been one of the fastest growing package types in the industry with demand that has outpaced the available market capacity. As a small, lightweight, high performance semiconductor solution, WLCSP is a compelling, cost effective solution for space constrained mobile applications," said Dr. Han Byung Joon, EVP and CTO, STATS ChipPAC. "The expansion of our 300mm wafer level packaging is important because it provides a significant increase in total available capacity for our customers and allows us to drive higher efficiencies and economy of scale in our wafer level processes for more cost effective packaging solutions."
Wafer level packages differ from laminate and leadframe based packages in that all of the manufacturing process steps are performed in parallel at the silicon wafer level rather than sequentially on individual semiconductor chips. As a result, a wafer level chip scale package (WLCSP) is essentially the same size as the die, providing a more compact package footprint than conventional manufacturing processes.
With wafer level packaging, the cost per package is primarily determined by the number of die per wafer rather than the number of input/output (I/O) per device. STATS ChipPAC has benefited from a successful production ramp up in wafer level packaging and has more than doubled its production volume in Asia since 2009. The expansion to the larger scale 300mm wafers for WLP reinforces STATS ChipPAC’s commitment to deliver production capacity and capabilities in strategic locations to service its customers with full turnkey WLCSP assembly and test services for both 200mm and 300mm wafer sizes.
STATS ChipPAC’s new process technologies such as electroplated copper RDL and UBM enable higher densities and increased reliability in wafer level packages. To support a wider range of applications, STATS ChipPAC has completed qualification on WLCSP body sizes up to 5 x 5mm with qualification underway for 7 x 7mm.
The new 300mm wafer level packaging capability in Taiwan is one facet of the company’s broader wafer level packaging portfolio, which includes wafer bump, fan-out WLCSP (eWLB), integrated passive device (IPD) and through silicon via (TSV) technology.
STATS ChipPAC Ltd. is a service provider of semiconductor packaging design, assembly, test and distribution solutions in diverse end market applications including communications, digital consumer and computing. Further information is available at www.statschippac.com
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