August 24, 2012 — iNEMI is starting a new convergence project on semiconductor packaging equipment requirements, and is seeking input from the industry.
Semiconductor packaging, equipment and manufacturing complexity have risen dramatically in the past decade. IC makers have increased their specific equipment requirements, but have not developed a consistent set of industry-wide requirements for precompetitive needs. The resultant
August 20, 2012 — Assembl
August 16, 2012 — Wedge and wire bonder company Hesse & Knipps Inc., the Americas subsidiary of Hesse & Knipps Semiconductor Equipment GmbH, will demo a new 3mil wire bonding capability on its BJ935 automatic heavy wire bonder for back-end semiconductor packaging at the 45th International Symposium on Microelectronics (IMAPS).
Packaging professionals can watch the wire bonding tool in action at IMAPS booth 210, September 9-13 in San Diego, CA.
Hesse & Knipps enhanced the capabilities of its BJ935 heavy wire bonder to process gold, aluminum and copper semiconductor die bonding wire with diameters from 3 to 20mil (75 to 500
August 15, 2012 – BUSINESS WIRE — Kulicke & Soffa Industries, Inc. (K&S, NASDAQ:KLIC) appointed Irene Lee to the role of chief quality officer, reporting to president and CEO Bruno Guilmart. Lee will oversee quality assurance functions across Kulicke & Soffa
August 14, 2012 – Marketwire — Monolithic Power Systems (MPS), fabless analog and mixed signal semiconductor company, implemented yieldWerx Semiconductor Test and Yield Management tools.
MPS had a rapid-RFP write-up and invited multiple semiconductor yield/data storage and analysis vendors for on-site presentations and system evaluations. yieldWerx was selected based on a pre-defined set of criteria, including solution features-fit and technical architecture consideration, etc.
MPS required a robust and centralized system for effective storage, analysis, and sharing of testing and product data received from multiple semiconductor foundries, and assembly and testing facilities in the US and Asia. MPS also looked for best practices to streamline data management, implement quality control measures, optimize and automate yield management and analysis activities through the implementation of a time-proven system solution.
Monolithic Power Systems, Inc. develops and markets proprietary, advanced analog and mixed-signal semiconductors. For more information, visit www.monolithicpower.com
yieldWerx Semiconductor provides the semiconductor industry with enterprise wide test and engineering data management solutions that increase yield, and reduce time to market. yieldWerx supports Klarf, STDF, ATDF, WAT & PCM, CSV and other custom formats. The yieldWerx Database’s WAT & PCM loader has been enhanced to additionally support foundry data formats of asmc, UMC, tsmc & SMIC. To download, visit www.yieldwerx.com
August 10, 2012 — Laser nanofabrication can now meet the needs of submicron and nanoscale feature size manufacturing, and can operate in air, vacuum, or liquid processes. Sister publication Industrial Laser Solutions recently published Laser nanofabrication: A route toward next-generation mass production, by professors at the Singapore University of Technology and Design and National University of Singapore.
The article describes laser-based manufacturing processes being used for sub-20nm industrial fabrication, including on silicon substrates.
These manufacturing techniques could enable maskless semiconductor patterning or new micro electro mechanical system (MEMS) designs, as well as a lower-cost method to form through-silicon vias (TSVs) and interposers for advanced packaging.
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| Figure. a) Metallic nano-dot array being embedded in a silicon substrate. b) Nano-pillar array fabricated by laser interference lithography (LIL). |
Check out the article at http://online.qmags.com/ILS0712/#pg21&mode2
August 9, 2012 – BUSINESS WIRE — Researchers at National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) in southern Taiwan developed a tin/zinc/silver/aluminum/gallium (SnZnAgAlGa) solder alloy for semiconductor packaging, and are now looking for commercialization opportunities.
The solder offers reliability and cost improvements over current interconnect materials, according to Lin Kwang-lung, professor of materials science and engineering at NCKU. Industry partners are looking into turning the alloy into solder balls, so far creating solder balls with 0.76mm, 0.50mm, and 0.30mm diameters. The material
August 8, 2012 — Multitest, semiconductor test equipment supplier, added a 2D code reader option to its MT2168 pick-and-place test handler, for package test customers that require 100% device traceability and lot integrity.
The 2D code reader identifies each package, using the package ID to verify the data with the lot information. The handler can be given lot information by manual HMI input or via a scanned bar code.
Additionally, the ID of each device under test (DUT) can be read by the tester via RS232 or IEEE interface. Using the package ID, the test result can be unambiguously assigned to the DUT ID.
This 2D code reader is available as option for the MT2168 and can be retrofitted in the field.
Multitest already has received orders for MT2168 test handlers that include this new option.
Multitest is one of the world
August 8, 2012 — Henkel Electronic Materials developed a new underfill system designed to reduce flip chip package stress by controlling die and substrate warpage, LOCTITE ECCOBOND UF 8840.
Flip chip silicon die and package substrates have different coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE). Flip chip die are increasingly thinner, which can lead to warpage during thermal processing. Upward (smiling) and downward (crying) flip chip warpage can reduce package reliability.
LOCTITE ECCOBOND UF 8840 is compatible with various flux systems, has minimum resin bleed out, is compatible with needle dispensing and non-contact dispensing and has a wide dispense process window. LOCTITE ECCOBOND UF 8840, has been formulated to flow consistently with no voids on flip chip die up to 15mm2. It can be used with a variety of die passivations.
Henkel tested the underfill against competitive materials, reporting less warpage and lower stress. The underfill delivered <80
August 7, 2012 – BUSINESS WIRE — Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) debuted its compliance test application, Agilent N6462A DDR4, for systems using double-data-rate 4 (DDR4) memory.
The test application helps memory design engineers accelerate turn-on and debug of DDR4 systems by automating the execution of physical layer tests, including the new data jitter measurements on Agilent Infiniium 9000, 90000A, 90000 X- and 90000 Q-Series oscilloscopes.
Also read: Performance enhancements for multi-die DRAM packages
The Agilent N6462A DDR4 compliance test application is designed for engineers who work on high-end computing applications. The application provides automated clock, electrical and timing tests. It automatically configures the oscilloscope for each test and generates an HTML report at the end of the test. The report compares the results with the specified test limit and indicates how closely the device passes or fails each test.
Engineers can easily debug signal integrity issues using the N6462A software in conjunction with the new InfiniiScan multichannel and multizone triggering features to successfully separate, read and write data. This unique InfiniiScan feature is available only with Agilent