(September 30, 2010) — Research in China put out this new report chronicling the advanced semiconductor packaging industry happenings and key companies from 2009 to 2010. The study mainly focuses on CSP and BGA packaging. Technology adoption and costs are analyzed, from eWLB and other wafer-level packaging (WLP) techs to TSV.
Advanced packaging is mainly applied in mobile phone, CPU, GPU, Chipset, digital camera, digital video camera, and FPTV, of which mobile phone sectors use advanced packaging the most, since an average of approximately 12-18 pieces of IC in every mobile phone is in need of advanced packaging. Mobile telecom shapes the advanced packaging market of almost 18 billion pieces; followed by computer CPU, GPU and Chipset whose unit price and gross profit are far higher than that of mobile phone IC packaging despite the smaller quantity.
In 2010, the global packaging & testing industry will have an output value of nearly $46.15 billion, among which, the IDM sector enjoys $24.01 billion, and the outsourcing semiconductor assembly & testing providers (OSATs) occupy $22.14 billion. The proportion of world’s packaging & testing industry in the output value of global semiconductor industry climbed to 18.1% in 2009 from 17.5% in 2004, and it can promisingly reach 19.5% by 2013. The packaging and test industry has become increasingly important in semiconductor fab. The output value of packaging and test worldwide in 2010 will rise 22.8% or so from 2009 and the growth margin of SATS is close to 30.5%. In particular, advanced packaging providers will experience an even higher average growth of about 36.5%, the highest level since 2000.
QFN
Take the baseband MT6253, a highly integrated IC of MediaTek, as an example. If it adopts MediaTek’s consistent TFBGA packaging, the packaging area will be around 14mm2 with poor EMI/ESD performance and heat dissipation. So, MediaTek seeks help from ASE Inc., which developed a QFN package that reduced the area to 11.5mm2, with material cost of QFN packaging leadframe only one-third that of the BGA. In fact, cooperating with Mitsui in patent, ASE Inc. started R&D in 2007Q3, purchased machines from 2007Q4 and accomplished verification in 2008Q3. However, the pitch of aQFN packaging is relatively small, creating trouble for SMT assembly houses in China, resulting in the low yield rate at the initial stage. The yield rate has been much improved after considerable effort. MT6516, the mobile phone baseband of MediaTek, has a pitch of only 0.378mm, far smaller than that of MT6253.
WLCSP
In 2008, Infineon launched PMB8810, using eWLB packaging provided by STATS ChipPAC Ltd. eWLB, embedded wafer level packaging, is an upgraded version of wafer-level chipscale packaging (WLCSP), with a package size of 8mm2. As a small, highly integrated baseband processor, it also favors 6-layer PCB and reduces cost. LG has largely adopted PMB8810, e.g. GU230, T310, T300, GD350, GB220, and GS170; so have Samsung’s S3350 and Nokia. The global shipment of PMB8810 in 2009 hit 35 million.
TSV
The popular through-silicon via (TSV) technology is making slow progress. TSV has to solve quite a few technical problems and holds high cost against still immature technology and no unified standards, 3-5x higher than that of SoC or SiP designs of the same function or performance. TSV memory, originally anticipated to mushroom in 2010, failed to make its debut so far and it is predicted to be rolled out massively in 2011, while the Logic +Memory type TSV IC emerged roughly 1-3 years later than expected with not-so-large application numbers. In the future, TSV will be still primarily applied in CMOS image sensor and stack memory. Fan-Out WLCSP packaging starts to stand out conspicuously in 2010.
Packaging company ranks
In regard to industry, ASE Inc. (an average of 2-3 acquisitions per annum), the global No.1 packaging & test company, purchased 59% equities of Universal Scientific Industrial Co., Ltd. (USI) for nearly TWD13.5 billion in February 2010 and the shareholding ratio of ASE Inc. reached 77%. USI is the downstream manufacturer of ASE Inc.’s clients, and after the acquisition, ASE Inc. has further stabilized the orders, the estimated main business revenue in 2010 will see a growth close to 50%. In August 2010, ASE Inc. invested $67.68 million to acquire Singapore’s EEMS, intensifying its strength in test business. In December 2009, the global No.2 LCD packaging & test company Chipbond acquired International Semiconductor Technology Ltd. to become the world’s largest LCD packaging & test enterprise, and the revenue of Chipbond will experience a growth of 165.8% in 2010. At the end of December 2009, Unimicron officially amalgamated with Camel Precision Co., Ltd., and its revenue in 2010 is predicted to witness a growth margin of 142.6%, and it will climb to the global No.3 IC substrate manufacturer from the current 5th position worldwide. Subordinated to Samsung, South Korean STS Semiconductor has flooded into logic IC packaging & test field from memory packaging & test, and its revenue is expected to see a growth margin of 130.2% in 2010.
The full report includes a discussion of the status quo and future of IC advanced packaging, covering SOP, QFP & LQFP, FBGA, TEBGA, FC-BGA, WLCSP, Fan-out WLCSP (FOWLCSP), and more. It covers the global, and particularly China, semiconductor industry and wafer foundries. Features cover the future of copper wire bonding, horizontal package type comparisons, analysis of the industry and downstream markets, and top companies.
Advanced packaging companies covered by the study include Greatek Electronics; Formosa Advanced Technologies Co., Ltd. (FATC); Powertech Technology Inc. (PTI); ChipMOS TECHNOLOGIES (Bermuda) LTD. (ChipMOS); King Yuan Electronics Co., Ltd. (KYEC); Amkor; Siliconware Precision Industries Co., Ltd. (SPIL); STATS ChipPAC Ltd.; Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc. (ASE Inc.); Kinsus Interconnect Technology Corp.; Nan Ya PCB Corporation; Unimicron; Camel Precision Co., Ltd.; IBIDEN; Shinko Electric Industries Co., Ltd.; Nepes; STS Semiconductor; SEMCO; Jiangsu Changjiang Electronics Technology Co., Ltd (JCET); Unisem; CARSEM; Nantong Fujitsu Microelectronics Co., Ltd.; and Chipbond Technology Corporation (Chipbond).
The report can be ordered from provider Electronics.Ca Publications at http://www.electronics.ca/publications/products/Global-and-China-Advanced-Packaging-Industry-Report%2C-2009%252d2010.html
Also read the recently released NVR report on the global IC packaging market.
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