Category Archives: Online Magazines

Despite its high 19% CAGR, Flip-chip is not new – in fact, it was first introduced by IBM over 30 years ago. As such, it would be easy to consider it an old, uninteresting, mature technology, but this is far from true. Instead, Flip-Chip is keeping up with the times and developing new bumping solutions to serve the most advanced technologies, like 3D IC and 2.5D. No matter what packaging technology you’re using, a bumping step is always required at the end. In 2012, bumping technologies accounted for 81% of the total installed capacity in the middle end area. That’s big. Really big. So big that it represents 14M+ 12’’eq wafers – and fab loading rates are high as well, especially for the Cu pillar platform (88%). Flip-Chip is also big on value: in 2012 it was a $20B market (making it the biggest market in the middle-end area), and Yole Développement expects it to continue growing at a 9% clip, ultimately reaching $35 billion by 2018.

Flip-Chip capacity is expected to grow over the next five years to meet large demand from three main areas:

1) CMOS 28nm IC, including new applications like APE and BB

2) The next generation of DDR Memory

3) 3DIC/2.5D interposer using micro-bumping.

Driven by these applications, Cu pillar is on its way to becoming the interconnect of choice for Flip-Chip.

In addition to traditional applications which have used Flip-Chip for a while now (laptop, desktop and their CPUs, GPUs & Chipsets – which are growing slowly but still represent significant production volumes for Flip-Chip), Yole Développement’s analyst expects to see strong demand from mobile & wireless (smartphones), consumer applications (tablets, smart TV, set top box), computing and high performance/ industrial applications such as network, servers, data centers and HPC.

The new “Flip-Chip packaged ICs” are expected to radically alter the market landscape with new specific motivations that will drive demand for wafer bumping.

“In the context of 3D integration and the ‘More than Moore’ approach, Flip-Chip is one of the key technology bricks and will help enable more sophisticated system on chip integration than ever before,” says Lionel Cadix, Market & Technology Analyst, Advanced Packaging, at Yole Développement.

Flip-Chip is being reshaped by a new kind of demand that is hungry for Cu pillars and micro-bumps, which are on their way to becoming the new mainstream bumping metallurgy for die interconnection.

Meanwhile, Cu pillar is fast becoming the interconnect of choice for advanced CMOS (≤28nm), memory, and micro-bumping for 2.5D interposer and 3D IC.

In addition to studying mainstream bumping technologies, the Yole Développement report focuses on Cu pillar bumping, which is becoming increasingly popular for a wide variety of applications. The massive adoption of Cu pillars is motivated by a combination of several drivers, including very fine pitch, no UBM needed, high Z standoff, etc. Cu pillar Flip-Chip is expected to grow at a 35% CAGR between 2010-2018 in terms of wafer count. Production is already high at Intel – and by 2014, more than 50% of bumped wafers for Flip-Chip will be equipped with Cu pillars.

As early as 2013, micro-bumping for 2.5D & 3D IC, in conjunction with new applications like APE, DDR memory, etc., will boost Flip-Chip demand and create new challenges and new technological developments (see figure on the left). Today, Flip- Chip is available in a wide range of pitches to answer the specific needs of every application. The ultimate evolution in bumping technologies will consist of directly bonding IC with copper pads. 3D integration of ICs using this bump-less Cu-Cu bonding is expected to provide an IC-to-IC connection density higher than 4 x 105 cm-2, making it suitable for future wafer-level 3D integration of IC in order to augment Moore’s Law scaling.

Taiwan is the #1 location for Flip-Chip bumping

The major OSATs are preparing to produce fcBGA based Cu pillar packages and won’t limit the reach of cu pillar bumping to fcCSP. This will allow every company involved in CPU, GPU Chipset, APE, BB, ASIC, FPGA and Memory to access Cu pillar Flip-Chip technology. Cu pillar capacity is expected to grow rapidly over the 2010 – 2014 timeframe (31% CAGR), hitting ~9M wspy by 2014 and supporting the growing demand for micro-bumping and advanced CMOS IC bumping.

In the mutating middle-end area, CMOS foundries now propose wafer bumping services (TSMC, GLOBALFOUNDRIES, etc.), as opposed to bumping houses, which are dedicated to bumping operations (FCI, Nepes, etc.), and OSATs, which keep investing in advanced bumping technologies. In 2012, OSATs owned 31% of installed capacity in ECD solder bumping and 22% of installed capacity in Cu pillar bumping. A full overview of 2012 installed capacities for all bumping platforms is provided in this report.

Concerning geography, Taiwan has the biggest overall bumping capacity (regardless of the metallurgy), with important capacity coming from foundries and OSAT factories. Taiwan currently leads the outsourcing “solder & copper” Flip-Chip wafer bumping market. Flip-Chip market growth, spurred on by the emergence of the “middle-end” environment, has challenged traditional “IDM vs. fabless” supply chain possibilities more than ever before.

Global sales of semiconductors in January rose year-over-year, yet fell on a sequential basis as ongoing economic uncertainty is holding back more robust growth, iStockAnalyst today reported.

Worldwide sales of semiconductors were $24.05 billion the month of January, up 3.8% from January 2012 and down 2.8% from December 2012, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA).

"The across-the-board spending cuts that hit last week and the threat of a government shutdown later this month are just the latest examples of fiscal disruptions that sidetrack economic growth," said SIA CEO Brian Toohey.

On a regional basis, semiconductor sales rose 10.5% and 7.8% in the Americas and Asia Pacific respectively, but dropped 4.9 percent and 12.3 percent in Europe and Japan from the same period last year.

North and South America post best January of the last decade, the SIA noted.

Compared with December 2012, sales inched up 0.4 percent in Europe, while declining 5.5% in Japan, 3.5% in the Americas and 2.5 percent in Asia Pacific.

Semiconductor sales in the United States totaled more than $146 billion in 2012.

The employment of touch panels on mobile phones has paved the way for easy access to various operations. Moreover, there are increased demands for more specifications with the mobility, notably for outdoor readability. Touch panel makers are seeking ways to catch both greater specifications and lower cost at the same time, amid rapidly falling touch panel prices. Thus, the capacitive touch panel structure is undergoing the sea of changes.

Capacitive touch panels could be largely divided into the GG method (cover glass + ITO glass sensor), mostly used by Apple, and the GFF type (cover glass + two ITO film sensors). However, recent developments have introduced new structures that are more efficient in production and cost; ones with superior optical traits; and some with favorable weight/thickness.

Regardless of the type, the cover glass and touch sensor have a high cost ratio for all structures. As for 10.1-inch tablet PCs, the cover glass takes up 35% and the touch sensor around 30~32% for both GG and GFF types, which is why all the attention is being put on touch sensors.

Cost Ratio of Touch Materials by Structure

display market analysis

(Source: Displaybank, “Touch Panel-use ITO Film/ITO Glass 2013”)

With the rapid growth of the tablet PC market, the ITO film market has seen a staggering growth in demand with more manufacturers, which once insisted on glass sensors, switching over to film. The ITO film industry is even faced with supply shortages because it was late in responding to the exploding demand.

Meanwhile, some laptop models and all-in-one PCs have been employing touch panels with the launch of Windows 8. Since it is still in its initial stages, the touch panels are only employed on some of the high-end ultrabook models. But touch functions are expected to be increasingly applied on mid-end products. Considering that touch panels applied on mid-end products need to be cost efficient, GFF or GG types are most likely to be employed rather than the current G2. However, since there is an absolute shortage of large-sized glass sensor lines, and because mobile devices have to be light, GFF types have a higher chance of employment over the GG, which is why demands for ITO film is expected to grow. But along with such movements, large supplies of ITO film are forecasted for next year, suggesting a quick fall in ITO film sensor prices.

Against this backdrop, Displaybank analyzed and forecasted the ITO film/ITO glass market, technologies, and industry. The report forecasts the market by continuously observing and assessing the following issues:

ITO Sensor Market Forecast
Market forecast based on future touch panel strategies; cost simulations; possible supply capacity; and surrounding infrastructure of the major models, such as the iPad, the iPhone, the Galaxy Note, and the Galaxy.

Film Sensor
Considered enhanced outdoor readability through narrow bezel, use of sunglass film, and increased direct bonding; greater demands for fine patterning as a result of enhanced readability; the problem of resistance which is an obstacle to upsizing; and trends surrounding replacements.

Glass sensor
Considered the employment of thin-film glass; and how to maintain the side solidity to expand the sheet G2 market

Spansion Inc. and United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC), today announced the joint development of a 40nm process that integrates UMC’s 40nm LP logic process with Spansion proprietary embedded Charge Trap (eCT)TM Flash memory technology. As part of this non-exclusive agreement, UMC is licensed to manufacture products based on this technology for Spansion.

Spansion embedded Charge Trap is a new high performance, low power, and cost- effective NOR Flash technology optimized for integration with advanced logic process in system-on-chip (SoC) products.  The technology is scalable beyond 40nm and can be integrated into High-k manufacturing process.  Spansion eCT technology is an enabler for expanding the roadmap for Spansion’s Programmable System Solutions (PSS), which combine Flash memory with configurable logic to enhance processing performance for applications that are memory, processing and MIPS intensive.

"Collaborating with UMC furthers Spansion’s licensing strategy," said John Kispert, president and CEO of Spansion. "By working with a leading foundry such as UMC, we can more effectively expand our PSS product roadmap and licensing business. In addition, we will enable others to take advantage of our Charge Trap technology, extending into new markets and bringing additional value to our customers."

"We look forward to working with Spansion to offer an industry leading logic platform that integrates our robust 40nm production process with their well-established Charge Trap memory technology,” W.Y. Chen, COO of UMC, said. “The result of the collaboration will deliver a cost-effective, innovative technology solution for customers designing into a wide range of market segments."

Spansion is a provider of the Flash memory technology at the heart of the world’s electronics systems, powering everything from the routers that run the internet to consumer and automotive electronics.

NAND flash memory tech development agreement
By Shigeru23 [CC-BY-SA-3.0 or GFDL], via Wikimedia Commons

After experiencing a slowdown in 2012, the global semiconductor market is set for growth. The World Semiconductor Trade Statistics predicts the global semiconductor market to grow by 4.5% in 2013 after declining 3.2 percent in 2012. The SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF (XSD) has gained over 7% year-to-date. Five Star Equities examines the outlook for companies in the semiconductor industry and provides equity research on Avago Technologies Ltd. and NVIDIA Corporation.

The global semiconductor industry posted total sales of $291.6 billion in 2012, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association. The total was the third highest ever, but a decline of 2.7 from the record $299.5 billion set in 2011. The industry began to show some strength in the fourth quarter as it posted sales of $74.2 billion, which was a year-over-year increase of 3.8%.

"Despite substantial macroeconomic challenges, the global semiconductor industry outperformed forecasts and posted one of its highest yearly sales totals in 2012," said Brian Toohey, president and CEO, Semiconductor Industry Association. "Recent momentum, led by strength in the Americas, has the industry well-positioned for a successful 2013."

Avago Technologies serves three primary target markets: wireless communications, wired infrastructure, industrial and automotive electronics.

Five Star Equities provides market research focused on equities that offer growth opportunities, value, and strong potential return and was not compensated by any of the companies listed in its report.

InvenSense, Inc. and Avnet Memec this week announced the formation of a pan-European distribution agreement. With the new partnership, Avnet Memec is chartered with sales and support for InvenSense’s MotionTracking devices throughout Europe and Israel.

“Aligning with InvenSense is very exciting as they have industry-leading MEMS sensors, and their 6- and 9-axis MotionTracking devices are particularly compelling and innovative,” said Steve Haynes, president of Avnet Memec. “Also, their proven products meet the expanding demands of consumer electronics OEMS, as well as industrial and automotive manufacturers. Our agreement with InvenSense is poised to open new and exciting opportunities for both organizations throughout Europe.”

“The demand for InvenSense products is growing throughout the pan-European region,” said Behrooz Abdi, President and CEO of InvenSense. “As Avnet Memec has a worldclass sales and support infrastructure that is intensely focused on customer support and demand creation, it is the ideal partner to increase InvenSense’s footprint in this region.”

MotionTracking devices are widely deployed in many consumer electronic devices including smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and smart TVs as they provide an intuitive way for consumers to interact with their electronic devices by tracking motion in free space and delivering these motions as input commands. Accurately tracking complex user motions requires the use of motion sensors such as gyroscopes, accelerometers, compasses, and pressure sensors.

Tensoft, an end-to-end ERP and supply chain solution provider for the semiconductor industry, announced today an agreement with GEO Semiconductor, the industry leader in high-performance, geometric processing solutions and inventor of the "eWarp" and "Realta" technology platform, to implement Tensoft’s integrated solution for the semiconductor industry, including Microsoft Dynamics and Tensoft Fabless Semiconductor Management (FSM). Tensoft’s FSM is a web-based product that supports semiconductor and related industry manufacturing processes.

GEO Semiconductor recently grew dramatically through its acquisition of Maxim Integrated’s Digital Video Processing Business. While this acquisition helps accelerate their market and corporate growth, it has also presented the need for additional infrastructure to support this growth, including an ERP and supply chain system that can be deployed very quickly.

"We needed a way to instantly scale in order to service our new customers following the Maxim product acquisition. Tensoft FSM has a known track record that we’re confident will allow us to meet this need," said Eric Erdman, GEO’s CFO. "Tensoft’s solution will enable our company to service our customers and to seamlessly manage all aspects of GEO’s production and financial operations."

"We’re really pleased to be working with Eric for a second time," said Bob Scarborough, Tensoft President and CEO. "It’s great to get the confirmation of repeat business — it’s a solid endorsement of our ability to be a trusted partner and to add value to rapidly growing companies. And, we really thrive on the challenge of delivering our products and adding our expertise in this kind of environment."

GEO Semiconductor develops programmable, high-performance geometric processor ICs, H.264 CODECS, video, audio and human interface technologies, focusing on smartphone peripherals, automotive cameras & HUDs, Smart TV, cloud and Skype communications as well as surveillance & video communication markets. The company is located in Santa Clara, CA with offices in Toronto and Orlando, and sales channels around the globe.

Corning, Apple’s glass supplier, announced yesterday that it will probably take at least three years before companies start making flexible displays using its new Willow flexible glass material.

Speaking with Bloomberg, Corning president James Clappin says that products with flexible displays are likely still three years out, adding that it’s now busy making "a lot of effort" to teach what it describes as "very big name" companies how to fully use the product. The glass has been rolled out as companies, such as Google, are considering launching wearable computers.

Clappin told reporters that companies have yet to come up with products that take advantage of Willow glass. The glass can be rolled up like a newspaper, allowing companies to make curved or flexible displays. Clappin believes people are not accustomed to glass you roll up.

Willow glass may be used in some simple products this year, said Clappin. Examples of these products could be thin films behind some touch panels or a flexible barrier for solar panels.

Corning said they have sent out samples of the flexible glass to makers of phones, tablets and TVs in June. Corning CFO, James Flaws, at the time said that the company hoped it would be available in consumer products this year.

The adsorption of ions in microporous materials governs the operation of technologies as diverse as water desalination, energy storage, sensing and mechanical actuation. Until now, however, researchers attempting to improve the performance of these technologies haven’t been able to directly and unambiguously identify how factors such as pore size, pore surface chemistry and electrolyte properties affect the concentration of ions in these materials as a function of the applied potential.

Georgia Tech researchers
Georgia Tech associate professor Gleb Yushin (left) and graduate research assistant Sofiane Boukhalfa examine experimental results from their study of the adsorption of ions. (Credit: Gary Meek)

To provide the needed information, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory have demonstrated that a technique known as small angle neutron scattering (SANS) can be used to study the effects of ions moving into nanoscale pores. Believed to be the first application of the SANS technique for studying ion surface adsorption in-situ, details of the research were reported recently in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition.

Using conductive nanoporous carbon, the researchers conducted proof-of-concept experiments to measure changes in the adsorption of hydrogen ions in pores of different sizes within the same material due to variations in solvent properties and applied electrical potential. Systematic studies performed with such a technique could ultimately help identify the optimal pore size, surface chemistry and electrolyte solvent properties necessary for either maximizing or minimizing the adsorption of ions under varying conditions.

“We need to understand this system better so we can predict the kind of surface chemistry required and the kinds of solvents needed to control the levels of ion penetration and adsorption in pores of different sizes,” said Gleb Yushin, an associate professor in the Georgia Tech School of Materials Science and Engineering. “Understanding these processes better could lead to the development of improved energy storage, water purification and desalination systems. This new experimental methodology may also give us paths to better understand ion transport in biological systems and contribute to the development of improved drugs and artificial organs.”

Georgia Tech associate professor Gleb Yushin (left) and graduate research assistant Sofiane Boukhalfa assemble a test cell used to study the adsorption of ions. (Credit: Gary Meek)

The research was supported partially by the U.S. Army Research Office, the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).

“The advantage of neutron scattering is that it can be used to study real systems,” said Yushin. “You can study most electrode materials and electrolyte combinations as long as they have a high sensitivity for neutron scattering.”

Yushin and his collaborators – Georgia Tech graduate research assistant Sofiane Boukhalfa, and Oak Ridge scientists Yuri Melnichenko and Lilin He – conducted the research using ORNL’s High Flux Isotope Reactor, which produces a beam of high-energy neutrons. Their experimental setup allowed them to immerse activated carbon fabric samples – each sample containing pores of different sizes – in different electrolyte materials while varying the applied electrical potential.

By measuring how the neutron beam was scattered when it passed through the carbon fabric and electrolytes, the researchers could determine how the solvent, pore size and electrical potential affected the average ion concentration in the carbon material samples.

This schematic shows the experimental setup for in-situ studies of ion adsorption on the surface of microporous carbon electrodes. (Credit: Gleb Yushin)

“You can learn whether the ions get adsorbed into small pores or large pores by simply comparing the changes in the neutron scattering,” Yushin explained. “This experimental technique allows us to independently change the surface chemistry to see how that affects the ion concentrations, and we can use different solvents to observe how the interaction between electrolyte and pore walls affects the ion adsorption in pores of different sizes. We can further identify exactly where the ion adsorption takes place even when no potential is applied to an electrode.”

Earlier work in this area had not provided clear results.

“There have been multiple prior studies on the pore size effect, but different research groups worldwide have obtained contradictory results depending on the material selection and the model used to determine the specific surface area and pore size distribution in carbon electrodes,” Yushin said. “Neutron scattering should help us clarify existing controversies. We have already observed that depending on the solvent-pore wall interactions, either enhanced or reduced ion electro-adsorption may take place in sub-nanometer pores.”

In their experiments, the researchers used two different electrolytes: water containing sulfuric acid and deuterium oxide – also known as heavy water – which also contained sulfuric acid. The two were chosen for the proof-of-concept experiments, though a wide range of other hydrogen-containing electrolytes could also be used.

Now that the technique has been shown to work, Yushin would like to expand the experimentation to develop better fundamental understanding about the complex interactions of solvent, ions and pore walls under applied potential. That could allow development of a model that could guide the design of future systems that depend on ion transport and adsorption.

“Once you gain the fundamental knowledge from SANS experiments, predictive theoretical models could be developed that would guide the synthesis of the optimal structures for these applications,” he said. “Once you clearly understand the structure-property relationships, you can use materials science approaches to design and synthesize the optimal material with the desired properties.”

Information developed through the research could lead to improvements in supercapacitors and hybrid battery-capacitor devices for rapidly growing applications in hybrid electrical vehicles, energy efficient industrial equipment, smart grid-distributed energy storage, hybrid-electric and electrical ships, high-power energy storage for wind power and uninterruptible power supplies.

Dramatically falling costs and improvements in efficiency are driving increased sales of light emitting diode (LED) lamps for street lighting. Costs have fallen as much as 50% over the past two years and are expected to continue falling. By 2015, LEDs will become the second-leading type of lamp for street lights in terms of sales, behind only high pressure sodium lamps, according to a new report from Pike Research, a part of Navigant’s Energy Practice. By 2020, the study concludes, LED lamps for street lights will generate more than $2 billion in annual revenue.

“Broader investments in smart city infrastructure by municipal governments will boost smart street lighting projects, as the two go hand in hand,” says research analyst Jesse Foote. “Smart street lighting systems can provide a backbone for other smart city applications, and conversely, a city investing in networking capabilities for smart city applications should also be looking to include better management of street lighting.”

Nearly all smart street lighting projects are still in a pilot phase at the moment, according to the report. The adoption of LED street lights and networked control systems is seriously hindered by the ownership models and tariff structures in place across the United States and in some European and Asian locations as well. If utility companies own street lighting systems and charge a fixed tariff per light to municipalities, then towns have little financial incentive to pay for upgrading their lights. However, the potential for significant energy savings, reduced emissions and improved quality of service, combined with falling LED prices, means that more and more cities will find this an attractive proposition over time.

The report, Smart Street Lighting, analyzes the global market opportunity for lamp upgrades and networked lighting controls across five categories of public outdoor lighting: highways, roads, parking lots, city parks, and sports stadiums. The report provides a comprehensive assessment of the demand drivers, obstacles, policy factors, and technology issues associated with the growing market for street lighting controls. Key industry players are profiled in depth and worldwide revenue and capacity forecasts, segmented by lamp type and region, extend through 2020.