May 16, 2012 — The ASM iHawk Xpress Opto Wire Bonder from backend semiconductor assembly equipment supplier ASM Pacific Technology offers new innovations in transport, copper-wire bonding, and automatic rethreading.
The new wire bonder handles leadframes up to 100mm-wide on its improved transport. The larger leadframe-acceptance specification is designed to reduce transport times.
The bonder
May 16, 2012 — Semiconductor assembly equipment supplier Kulicke & Soffa (NASDAQ:KLIC) broke ground on its Singapore global headquarters expansion, near the current leased headquarters location. A state-of-the-art 30,000m2 facility in Serangoon will bolster the company
May 15, 2012 — Deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) is a structuring process originally used to make micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS). This process enables achieving etch depths of 100s of micrometers with almost vertical sidewalls with very high aspect ratio (> 50:1 in some cases). The process was first developed by Robert Bosch, and thus it is also called the
May 14, 2012 — Heraeus introduced its high-reliability composite aluminum/copper (CucorAl) semiconductor bonding wire, which offers strong mechanical and electrical bonds to semiconductor pads, with good thermal properties.
During passive temperature cycling and active power cycling tests, the Al-clad Cu bonding wire showed improved long-term reliability over Al bonding wires.
The aluminum coating is soft, structured around the copper core in a way that enables a reliable bonding window with existing chip metallizations and conventional wirebond tools. The thick wire is 60-70% copper by volume. It is available in 200-500
May 14, 2012 — Asia-based ASM Pacific Technology (ASMPT) Group, a supplier of semiconductor assembly, bonding, and packaging equipment, will integrate with the SIPLACE organization in Europe. ASMPT acquired SIPLACE as a business unit under the name ASM Assembly Systems in 2011. SIPLACE
May 7, 2012 — Sales of semiconductor probe cards grew 17% in 2011, reaching $1.17 billion, VLSIresearch reports. While short of a record (2007 saw $1.36 billion), 2011 was one of the probe card sector
May 7, 2012 — A leading, US-based integrated device manufacturer (IDM) ordered about $5 million of front- and back-end semiconductor automatic optical inspection (AOI) tools from Camtek Ltd. (NASDAQ and TASE: CAMT).
The multiple systems will be installed for various production applications in semiconductor fab and packaging, as early as Q2 2012.
The order “strengthens Camtek’s partnership with the world-leading IDM,” commented Roy Porat, Camtek CEO.
Camtek’s semiconductor AOI tools fall under the Falcon and Gannet lines. Falcon tools can be used post-wafer-dice, post-bump, and around electrical test, among other production steps. Gannet is a submicron macro metrology and inspection tool that inspects all wafers in all lots, at high throughput. Camtek also makes a range of inspection tools for IC substrates and printed circuit boards (PCBs). Learn more at www.camtek.co.il.
Solid State Technology is proud to announce that David McCann will speak at The ConFab 2012. The event will be held June 3-6, 2012 at The Encore at The Wynn in Las Vegas. David McCann is Sr Director for Packaging R&D at GLOBALFOUNDRIES in Malta, New York. In this role, Dave is responsible for Packaging R&D and back-end strategy and implementation.
David will speak on the evolution toward silicon-based interconnect and packaging, which is having profound impact on how we think about technology development and the supply chain. “Previously, companies in incremental steps of the supply chain could develop products relatively independently,” he notes in his abstract. “Now they must work together to create solutions, or fail their common customers. Although the shortest path to market may be for the foundry to do everything in-house, the path to the best solutions that will enable competitive costs and high volume adaption will be flexible supply chains with collaborative partnering, flexibility, and transparency.”
In a session focused on advanced packaging and progress in 3D Integration, David will be joined by fellow presenters Sandeep Bharathi, vice president of engineering, Xilinx; Ron Huemoeller, senior vice president, 3DAmkor; and Bill Chen, ASE Fellow and Sr. Technical Adviser, ASE Inc. The chair of the session is Abe Yee, Dir. Adv.Technology & Package Development, Nvidia Corp.
Prior to GLOBALFOUNDRIES, David worked at Amkor Technology for 11 years, most recently leading the BGA, Flip Chip and MEMS product groups. He was responsible for extensions of package technology, bump, applications, and business performance. Prior to this, Dave was responsible for the fcBGA and fcCSP business group at Amkor. He led cross-functional teams in various areas including networking product strategy, mobile product development, large die/lead free flip chip development, and wafer level product strategy. David worked closely with Amkor factories in Asia.
Prior to Amkor, David worked at Biotronik, GmbH in Portland, OR. Biotronik is a developer and manufacturer of implanted medical devices including defibrillators and pacemakers. David worked at Biotronik for 9 years and had various roles in Production, Process Engineering, Product Engineering, and Flip Chip implementation. His last role at Biotronik was leading the assembly, interconnect, and product transition from wire bond to flip chip.
David has supported the Electronic Component and Technology Conference for more than 10 years. This year he is Conference General Chair.
May 3, 2012 — Nitto Denko Corporation approved a transfer of its Nitto Electronics Kyushu Corporation (Japan) and Nitto Denko Electronics (Malaysia) Snd. Bhd. businesses, as well as personnel, other assets, and properties related to its semiconductor encapsulating materials business, to Hitachi Chemical Co. Ltd.
The transfer price was set at 5.4 billion yen, subject to change depending on asset, liability, and exchange rate conditions. The deal was first brokered in March 2012.
The semiconductor encapsulant business, excluding optoelectronics encapsulants, is focused on transfer molds, has a
May 3, 2012 — Multitest introduced the ecoAmp Kelvin contactor for high-power semiconductor test of 500+ Amperes. It meets the needs of high voltage/high current test with high thermal and mechanical stability.
Also read: Kelvin measurement using spring probes for packaged IC testing
The contactor, based on Multitest