Category Archives: Wafer Level Packaging

(October 21, 2010) — SABIC Innovative Plastics launched three new sustainable additions to its Valox* ENH resin series that deliver advanced flame retardance (FR) with desirable mechanical and electrical performance. These innovative materials help customers comply with global environmental regulations, including the European Union (EU) Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive that is now also being applied in Korea and China.

The new Valox ENH resin grades are:

  • Valox ENH 3500 PBT resin, unfilled
  • Valox ENH 4530 PBT resin, 15 percent glass fiber reinforced
  • Valox ENH 4560 PBT resin, 30 percent glass fiber reinforced

The three new Valox ENH resins meet the UL94 V0 standard at 0.8mm. With a comparative tracking index (CTI) of 500 volts for Valox ENH 4530 resin and a CTI of 600 volts for Valox ENH 3500 and Valox ENH 4560 resins, these grades far surpass the CTI performance of standard glass-filled brominated PBT, which is typically around 200 volts.

These unfilled and glass-filled grades have potential for use in electric cooling fans, relays, connectors, switches and fuser applications in printers.

Reducing halogen content in flame-retardant polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) is a challenge because substituting a non-brominated, non-chlorinated FR chemistry usually degrades mechanical performance. But SABIC Innovative Plastics’ highly experienced scientific and technical team achieved this goal. The three new Valox ENH PBT resin grades, with different glass reinforcement levels, not only utilize non-brominated and non-chlorinated FR technology but also provide a better balance of high-performance properties than competitive non-brominated FR PBT resins. They deliver excellent elongation, chemical resistance and impact, and actually offer better electrical and flammability performance than brominated FR grades. Overall, they provide a better balance of properties than other non-brominated FR PBT resins.

“Environmental regulations and guidelines regarding acceptable flame-retardant chemicals for the electrical and electronics industry are continuing to tighten,” said Jos Braat, global product market director, SABIC Innovative Plastics. “Our dynamic R&D program focused on sustainable solutions continues to yield technological breakthroughs. Our new Valox ENH grades are just the latest deliverables in a strategic effort to evolve our flame-retardant plastics portfolio to be in line with global regulations and voluntary eco-labels that are important to our customers’ growth.”

To make applications even more sustainable, Valox ENH resin grades can be enhanced by combining them with other SABIC Innovative Plastics PBT technologies, particularly Valox iQ* resins. This iQ technology is referred to as “upcycled technology” because it incorporates high levels of post-consumer polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles into PBT resin through a proprietary chemical process. Upcycling not only diverts waste from landfills but also reduces carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and energy usage when producing PBT resin. Valox iQ NH 4550 is made from upcycled post consumer PET and is currently in SABIC innovative Plastics’ product portfolio.

The addition of the new materials increases the Valox ENH resin portfolio to five commercial grades applicable to many different E/E applications currently made of brominated FR PBT and/or PET. SABIC Innovative Plastics is also planning to launch PBT/PET alloys within the Valox ENH resin family by the end of this year.

SABIC Innovative Plastics supplies engineering thermoplastics. SABIC Innovative Plastics is a wholly owned subsidiary of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), petrochemicals manufacturer. For more information on SABIC Innovative Plastics’ environmental resin portfolio, please visit the company website at www.sabic-ip.com.

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(October 19, 2010 – BUSINESS WIRE) — 4G chipmaker Sequans unveiled its latest Mobile WiMAX solution, the SQN1280, an all-in-one WiMAX system-in-package (SIP) for makers of handsets, tablets, USB sticks, portable hotspots, M2M modules, and a variety of consumer electronics devices. The SQN1280 combines Sequans’ SQN1210 Mobile WiMAX system-on-chip (SOC) with all other components necessary to deliver a complete WiMAX solution in a single, small package.

Delivered fully tested, shielded, and calibrated, the SQN1280’s integrated components include a complete radio front end, power management, memory, clocks, and software. The SQN1280 is a complete and powerful WiMAX solution, enabling manufacturers to add WiMAX connectivity quickly to almost any device, with very fast time to market and very low development cost.

The SiP design reduces hardware and software integration time and development cost. The SQN1280 enables Internet connectivity at 4G speeds to be very quickly added to a wide range of devices such as smart meters, machine-to-machine modules, digital cameras, as well as handsets, etc., said Craig Miller, Sequans’ vice-president of marketing and business development.

SQN1280, a 17.7 x 17.7mm package, is based on Sequans’ SQN1210 SOC — a highly integrated Mobile WiMAX semiconductor solution — an operator-approved architecture now running in major WiMAX networks worldwide. The SQN1280 integrates a radio front end that is engineered for co-existence with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 2G/3G cellular technologies. It supports the 2.5-2.7 GHz band, two antennas, and embeds a PA, LNAs, filters, RF switches, LDOs, DC to DC converter, 32 kHz crystal, TCXO, SDRAM and Flash. 

SQN1280 is delivered with Sequans’ comprehensive software package, S3MAX, comprising USB and SDIO drivers for multiple operating systems, a WiMAX Forum-compliant authentication engine, an OMA-DM client, and an advanced diagnostic and monitoring tool. The SQN1280 requires minimal design work and offers easy software integration with host CPUs. It is fully tested and pre-calibrated, and is WiMAX Forum Certified.

Sequans Communications is a 4G chipmaker, supplying LTE and WiMAX chips to equipment manufacturers and mobile operators worldwide. Learn more at www.sequans.com.

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(October 19, 2010) — X-RAY WorX presented its new concepts for the cooling of high-resolution microfocus X-ray tubes for the first time during the international conference on new developments in industrial computed tomography (CT) in Wels/Upper Austria.

The stability of X-ray tubes used in high-resolution computed tomography scans has an important impact on measurement accuracy for high-precision inspection, first part audits, construction of prototypes, and many other fields of application. Thermal effect caused by several sources of heat inside the X-ray tube can significantly decrease the quality of measurement results. The new cooling procedure reduces thermal effects and leads to a higher quality of three dimensional CT datasets and measurement results. Read more about inspection.

“For our X-RAY WorX microfocus X-ray tubes we offer a new, modular cooling concept with an optimized internal cooling of the target inside the tube head. This concept will be shortly extended by further internal cooling units to compensate thermal effects directly at their origin,” explained Jens Peter Steffen, sales manager of X-RAY WorX. For the further reduction of thermal effects on the measurement area, X-RAY WorX offers an external cooling unit for the complete tube head. This external cooling unit is flexibly adaptable and can also be installed on microfocus X-ray tubes from Feinfocus and Yxlon, among others.

X-RAY WorX concentrates on development and production of microfocus X-ray tubes for high resolution X-ray analysis. Learn more at www.x-ray-worx.com

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(October 18, 2010) — SET unveiled a patented system enabling a thorough removal of oxides before or during the semiconductor packaging bonding sequence. Addressing the challenges of the oxidation of metal surfaces in device bonding, this machine system encompasses a substrate chuck and a bond head with a non-contact localized confinement chamber that operates safely with reducing gases such as forming gas or formic acid vapor. It can be implemented on any new SET bonder models FC150 and FC300.

 

To preserve the standard capabilities of SET’s bonding tools and especially the low contact force measurement applied to the components, the "Semi-Open" Confinement Chamber has no hardware sealing. A non-contact virtual seal of the micro-chamber enables gas confinement for chip-to-chip or chip-to-wafer bonding under controlled atmosphere; it ensures gas collection and prevents oxygen intrusion while preserving the alignment of the device with respect to its substrate. Consequently, it ensures an excellent wetting and a higher quality of solder joints at reduced bonding forces and temperatures as well as higher yield as no cleaning step is required.

This technology breakthrough is a perfect answer to overcome the bonding challenges of demanding applications using AuSn and Indium, such as optoelectronics assembly (laser bar, VCSELs) and imaging sensors (IR-FPA).

SET, Smart Equipment Technology, is a supplier of high-accuracy die-to-die, die-to-wafer bonding and nanoimprint lithography solutions. SET is a wholly owned subsidiary of Replisaurus Technologies. Further information is available on www.set-sas.fr.

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(October 15, 2010 – PRNewswire) — EoPlex Inc. debuted a high-performance, clean-tech lead carrier for semiconductor packaging. EoPlex xLC is reportedly a cost-effective replacement for the leadframes currently used in quad flat pack no-lead (QFN) packages.

QFNs are the fastest growing packaging segment, because they typically are the smallest and least expensive package. However, conventional QFN lead frames are limited in performance due to design restrictions of the current processes. In addition, they require etching and plating steps that create waste chemicals. EoPlex xLC overcomes these design restrictions in a green process that eliminates etching and plating. Size and cost advantages of QFN packages can now be applied to devices that were limited to more expensive and bulkier packaging technology.

EoPlex xLC is a sintered composite with an engineered microstructure that is based on the company’s proprietary materials and processing technology. With EoPlex xLC, complete packages can have from 2 to 500+ leads and still be less than 300um thick. EoPlex supplies xLC carriers to customers in the semiconductor, packaging and assembly industries. Initial applications are in portable electronics including cell phones, laptops, mp3 players, GPS, cameras and wireless devices.

We’ve introduced a product that combines clean technology with performance and cost advantages for our customers, said Arthur L. Chait, CEO of EoPlex. "We see this as part of a growing trend where clean manufacturing actually results in a better product and a lower cost." EoPlex currently has a small factory at its headquarters in Redwood City, CA, and plans to open full-size factories in locations that best support its customers.

EoPlex is a private company backed by Draper Fisher Jurvetson, ATA Ventures, Labrador Ventures and Draper-Richards. More information is at www.eoplex.com. EoPlex will be raising an expansion round of capital in 2011 and interested parties should contact Arthur L. Chait directly at [email protected].

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(October 14, 2010) — The 7th International Conference "3-D ARCHITECTURES FOR SEMICONDUCTOR INTEGRATION AND PACKAGING" will take place December 8-10, 2010 at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport Hotel. Check out the planned keynotes and topics of the conference.

3D integration and packaging is now well known to all in the semiconductor industry. Today the focus has shifted away from trying to understand the technology opportunity to one of understanding the practical challenges of technology adoption and commercialization, including who is getting there first, how, and at what cost.

3D integration and packaging, of both devices as well as systems, represents an industry inflexion point, not just an evolutionary change — thus there is a natural degree of uncertainty as companies scramble to secure market share, obtain new process and design tools, and of course, new customers and new applications.

This conference continues to give a broad, yet thorough perspective on the technomarket opportunity and challenge offered by building devices and systems in the vertical dimension. Industry leaders from around the world are invited to speak at this conference, on a wide range of topics important to the emerging and ongoing 3-D integration and packaging efforts. The format of the conference and its presentations enables speakers to present the most up-to-date and forthright perspectives as possible. 3-D Architectures for Semiconductor Integration and Packaging targets senior-level technologists, managers, and executives as speakers and attendees from leading companies and organizations around the world. The result is a unique forum where one can gain the latest insights to bring clarity in the direction of their own efforts.

This year’s conference sessions include:

  • Meeting the 3-D Opportunity
  • Toward the Frontline of Manufacturing
  • 3D Interposers — Where, When, and Why?
  • Critical Perspectives on 3D IC Standards
  • Facilitating Design of 3D Interposers and Die
  • 3D IC Advancements and the Systems Approach
  • Handling, Bonding, and TSV Manufacturing Capabilities
  • New Routes to Logic

Keynote speakers:

  • Subramanian Lyer, IBM Fellow, IBM
  • Douglas Chen-Hua Yu, Senior Director of Integrated Interconnect and Packaging Division, TSMC R&D Group
  • Ho-Ming Tong, Chief R&D Officer & General Manager of Group R&D, ASE Group
  • Antun Domic, Senior VP and General Manager Implementation Group, Synopsys

Pre-Conference Symposium: Key Topics in Going 3-D
The Evolving 3-D IC Infrastructure
Test in the Third Dimension
Thermal Management of 3D Architectures: Challenges and Opportunities
Taiwan R&D for 3-D ICs

Visit http://techventure.rti.org/Winter2010 for more details

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(October 12, 2010 – BusinessWorld Online) — The AYALA group’s electronics unit, listed Integrated Microelectronics Inc. (IMI), has completed its $30-million acquisition of PSi Technologies, Inc.

The deal made IMI and partner Narra Venture Capital II, a private investment firm that buys into technology companies in Silicon Valley, the majority shareholders in the independent semiconductor assembly and test-service company.

"The acquisition of PSi gives us a foothold in the growing convergence of power semiconductor assembly and test services and electronics manufacturing services," IMI president and chief executive Arthur R. Tan said in a disclosure.

"With a complementary capability to change the process of how a power semiconductor is built, we can now offer original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) an optimized power solution in a multichip module that combines the manufacturing expertise of IMI and PSi Technologies," Tan added.

IMI and Narra Venture Capital bought a combined 67% stake — 56% for IMI and 11% for Narra Venture Capital — in PSi Technologies last June.

IMI wants to open a manufacturing plant in Europe through an acquisition. IMI’s current European presence is only through an office in Germany that is said to account for some 23% of the company’s yearly sales.

Last month, the electronics manufacturing firm raised its authorized capital stock to P3.75 billion from P3 billion. IMI’s sales grew by 11% to $188.8 million in the first half but profits fell by a fifth to $4.7 million.

Shares in IMI dropped by 1.85% or P0.20 to close at P10.60 each yesterday.

Integrated Micro-Electronics Inc. (IMI) is a vertically integrated electronics manufacturing services (EMS) provider to leading global OEMs in diversified markets including automotive, industrial, medical, solar energy, telecommunications infrastructure, storage device, and consumer electronics industries.For more information, visit www.global-imi.com.

Narra Venture Capital (NarraVC) is a venture capital investment group that manages funds of Limited Partners such as Dado Banatao, Ayala Corporation, First Philippine Holdings and the Cebuana Lhuillier Group with Dr. Paco Sandejas as its Managing Partner. More on NarraVC on www.narravc.com.

PSi Technologies is a power semiconductor assembly and test services (SATS) company serving niche markets in the global power semiconductor market. It provides comprehensive package design, assembly and test services for power semiconductors used in various electronic devices. More about PSi Technologies on www.psitechnologies.com.

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(October 11, 2010 – Marketwire) — Cascade Microtech Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCD) announced new programs to drive down ownership costs for its wafer-, package– and board-level test products and provide customers with increased access to experts in probe technology. The new programs involve direct sales channels and a repair program, among other efforts.

In a global response to market requirements to reduce the cost-of-ownership while at the same time meeting the ever-demanding complex probing challenges, Cascade Microtech is implementing three new programs.

In response to cost-of-test pressures on our global customers, Cascade Microtech is reducing the cost-of-ownership by implementing a direct sales channel for purchasing engineering probes and various accessories. Customers will be able to buy our probes at the same global price from any of our worldwide locations. In addition, the same global price model will apply to impedance standard substrates and any probe accessories including RF cables, WinCal, positioners and adapters if ordered at the same time as probes.

Cascade Microtech recently launched its new probe repair program to help customers extend the life of their probe inventory and help lower the cost-of-ownership with fixed prices for Air Coplanar Probe (ACP) and Infinity Probe repairs. All probes will be repaired to meet original specifications. Simply contact a Cascade Microtech probe expert directly.

Cascade Microtech technical application probe experts are available at all worldwide offices. Cascade Microtech offers more than 50 different RF analytical probe models with hundreds of possible configurations for wafer-, package-, and board-level measurement. Cascade Microtech’s probe families include Infinity Probes, Air Coplanar probes and |Z| Probes; and multi-contact probes such as Unity, Multi-|Z| Probe, and Eye-Pass probess.

"By establishing a more direct relationship, the sales, applications and marketing teams at our worldwide locations will become even closer to our customers," said Michael Burger, president and CEO, "Our new engagement model will bring a better understanding of customer requirements to the Cascade Microtech team while in turn providing our customers improved service and significant improvements in probe cost-of-ownership."

Terms and conditions for all new probe programs can be found on the Cascade Microtech website: www.cascademicrotech.com.

Cascade also recently released a new contacting technology for its Pyramid probe cards.

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(October 7, 2010) — austriamicrosystems Full Service Foundry business unit introduced its “More Than Silicon” initiative, a comprehensive service and technology package that goes beyond standard foundry services. Foundry customers receive access to leading-edge technology add-ons, advanced packaging services, and dedicated support engineers to enable first-time-right designs.

The “More Than Silicon” offering provides austriamicrosystems’ foundry customers access to leading edge 3D IC integration using austriamicrosystems’ patentedthrough silicon via (TSV) technology. This advanced TSV technology enables the smallest form factors and addresses a variety of markets demanding 3D integration of CMOS ICs, photo sensors, power devices or MEMS components required in automotive, industrial & consumer applications. Foundry customers using the austriamicrosystems TSV concept immediately benefit from a significantly reduced form factor, systems cost reduction and utmost flexibility in IC and sensor arrangement. The leading edge technology add-on package also features a broad memory portfolio, including SRAM, ROM, BIST structures, One-Time-Programmable (OTP) and fully automotive qualified high reliability non-volatile memories (EEPROM and FLASH).

The “More Than Silicon” package comprises dedicated customer support for specialty foundry projects throughout the entire product value chain, including project definition, design, tape out, prototyping and high volume production. Highly skilled and experienced engineers provide consulting services such as design and layout reviews, ESD and EMC consultancy, Place & Route and test program development for wafer sort and final test. Wafer Level Chip Scale Packaging (WL-CSP) is now available as well as assembly services for commonly used ceramic and plastic packages.

“Requirements for leading-edge analog products have gone beyond the first-time right silicon design. The integration of the IC with advanced analog packaging and post-processing technologies is a must to bring a new breed of analog products to the market. austriamicrosystems’ “More Than Silicon” initiative uniquely supports these requirements and provides fabless design houses with access to special libraries and IP blocks, leading edge technology add-ons and dedicated support engineers,” said Thomas Riener, Senior Vice President and General Manager of austriamicrosystems’ Full Service Foundry business unit. “Foundry customers instantly benefit from our new “More Than Silicon” initiative, which is a clear commitment to our customers to help them with manufacturing their complete analog IC product.”

austriamicrosystems’ business unit Full Service Foundry offers RF CMOS, High-Voltage CMOS, BiCMOS, SiGe-BiCMOS and embedded EEPROM processes to fabless customers. austriamicrosystems designs and manufactures standard and customized high-performance analog ICs in the areas of power management, sensors & sensor interfaces and mobile infotainment. austriamicrosystems is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange in Zurich (ticker symbol: AMS). For more information, visit www.austriamicrosystems.com

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(October 5, 2010) — Global Industry Analysts released a report analyzes the global market for IC sockets in US$ Million by dual in-line memory module (DIMM) sockets, production sockets, test/burn-in sockets, and others. Regional IC sockets markets are analyzed as a consolidated whole with no granular level breakup offered by product group/segment. Annual estimates and forecasts are provided for the period 2006 through 2015.

Region/country       Players
The United States 16
Japan 5
Europe 7
France 1
Germany 2
The United Kingdom 1
Rest of Europe  3
Asia-Pacific (Excluding Japan)  18

The report profiles 44 companies including many key and niche players such as 3M Company, Aries Electronics Inc., Chupond Precision Co. Ltd., Enplas Corporation, FCI, Foxconn Technology Group, Johnstech International Corporation, Loranger International Corporation, Mill-Max Mfg. Corporation, Molex, Inc., Plastronics Socket Company, Inc., Sensata Technologies B.V., Tyco Electronics Ltd., Win Way Technology Co., Ltd., and Yamaichi Electronics Co., Ltd. Market data and analytics are derived from primary and secondary research. Company profiles are mostly extracted from URL research and reported select online sources. Sections cover recent product introductions and industry news.

Key discussions include the impact of the recession on the IC sockets market, changing market dynamics, the evolution of IC sockets and new developments, and how EMS companies impact IC socket use.

The product coverage in the report includes performance specs and socket types, such as plastic leaded chip carrier (PLCC), pin grid array (PGA), and land grid array (LGA) sockets used in production, and DIP and BGA sockets used in burn-in test.

Regional coverage is broken out by North America, Japan, Europe, the Asia-Pacific, and rest of world (ROW)

Learn more at http://www.electronics.ca/publications/products/IC-Sockets-%252d-Global-Strategic-Business-Report.html

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