07/07/2008  With SEMICON West 2008 just one week away, July 15-17,at the Moscone Center, San Francisco CA, exhibitors are getting the word out to make sure attendees don't miss a thing. While SEMI has a full-line up of conferences, keynotes, and workshops planned, many exhibitors will be leveraging the venue to announce new processes, technologies, products, and more.

07/02/2008  The Z-Socket, or impedance socket, from Antares, is an RF QFN test socket developed to combine the reliability of traditional spring-probe technology with the impedance-matching functionality of shorter interconnects at higher price points.

07/02/2008  Amkor Technology, Inc. announced the introduction of a high-performance flip chip packaging technology using an advanced molding process technology that is expected to provide a number of design, cost and performance advantages for field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), CPUs, graphics processors, and ASICs. The company plans to feature this technology during SEMICON West 2008, July 15 - 17, in San Jose, CA.

07/01/2008  Challenges of high-end FCSiP include routability with acceptable signal and power integrity, package thermo-mechanical behaviors, and long term reliability performance.

06/30/2008  (June 30, 2008) Gail Flower, editor_in_chief of Advanced Packaging, offers her perspective in a lead-free debate initiated by Rick Short of Indium, in response to a segment of The Riley Report, "The $38 Billion Blunder" penned by AP's columnist, George A. Riley, Ph.D.

06/18/2008  June 18, 2008 -- NEXX Systems, a provider of process equipment for advanced wafer-level packaging applications, will participate in IMEC's Industrial Affiliation Program (IIAP) on 3D integration.

06/18/2008  Vectron International, a designer and manufacturer of Frequency Control, Sensor, and Hybrid Product solutions, has released its new VMEM5Q high-shock and vibration MEMS-based military clock oscillator. The VMEM5Q utilizes a small mass, high stiffness micromechanical resonator.

06/17/2008  Megamax, the latest addition to Wentworth Laboratories, Inc.'s vertical probe card line addresses major probe card challenges encountered when probing high power flip chip devices such as microprocessor units (MPU's), graphics processing units (GPU's) and System on Chip (SoC's).

06/17/2008  June 16, 2008 - Unisem Berhad and subsidiary Unisem-Advantpack Technologies (UAT) have agreed to license FlipChip International's wafer bumping and wafer-level packaging technologies, in exchange for a stake in UAT. The deal is seen as expanding Unisem's technology offerings, while broadening FlipChip's customer reach.

06/16/2008  Unisem Berhad and its subsidiary, Unisem-Advantpack Technologies (UAT) have entered into an agreement with FlipChip International (FCI) to license FCI's wafer bumping and wafer-level packaging (WLP) technologies. The agreement will reportedly include FCI's core technologies. In return, FCI will become a shareholder in UAT.

06/16/2008  Asymtek, a Nordson company, provider of dispense, coating, and jetting technologies, recently celebrated the company's 25th anniversary. Asymtek's systems are known for innovative technology in dispensing, closed-loop process controls, and patented processes in jetting and coating. SMT Magazine talked to founder, Alec Babiarz about the company's history.

06/13/2008  Bigger and more international than ever, exhibitors at SMT/Hybrid Packaging, June 2-4, Nuremberg, Germany, focused their product showcases around the theme of automotive electronics, or used the venue for the European launch of new products.

06/04/2008  June 3, 2008 -- Toshiba has optimized for MEMS two packaging technologies that promise significant cost reductions. The company says it will further develop them for practical use.

05/30/2008  May 30, 2008 -- Olympus's new OLS3000IR LEXT IR confocal microscope uses a 1310 nm laser to literally see through the silicon for non-destructive, high-resolution MEMS inspection.

05/29/2008  By M.K. Chew and H.G. Su, Unisem-Advanpack Technologies
Wafer bumping is fast becoming the interconnect of choice for wafer level chip scale packages (WLCSPs). This migration is primarily driven by applications like power management devices, ASIC and memory chips, display drivers, Internet routers, microcontrollers, D/A converters, and RF devices that are transitioning from wire bond plastic encapsulated units to flip chips and WLSCPs.

05/27/2008  The 58th Electronic Components Technology Conference (ECTC), an international conference that brings together the best in packaging, components and microelectronic systems in science, technology and education gets under way Wednesday, May 27, in Lake Buena Vista, FL, with more than 340 technical papers being presented in 36 oral sessions, two poster sessions and a special student poster session.

05/27/2008  Barry Industries has introduced a line of semiconductor packaging featuring high temperature cofired ceramic (HTCC) technology for aerospace, RF/microwave, semiconductor, and optoelectronic devices.

05/22/2008  The "3D Integration North American Tour" came to San Jose on May 15 after stops in Durham, NC and Dallas, TX. The event, hosted by SUSS MicroTec, Surface Technology Systems (STS) and NEXX Systems outlined the current state of the art in through silicon vias (TSVs) and related technology.

05/19/2008  The National Microelectronics Institute (NMI) and TWI will hold the third in a series of annual one-day seminars addressing System-in-Package (SiP) trends, technologies, and applications at TWI, Granta Park, Cambridge, June 3, 2008. The program focuses on Design for SiP, a topic that has been long recognized as one of the key barriers to SiP adoption. Jan Vardemann, of Techsearch International, will deliver the keynote in SiP design and applications.

05/19/2008  The 8800 CHAMEO Multi Flip Chip Bonder from Datacon was developed for high-volume, high-throughput MCM / SiP assembly. Based on the same high-precision, dual-head architecture of its predecessor, the 8800 FC Quantum, it adds multi-flip-chip/MCM/SiP assembly and wafer handling capabilities as required in today's advanced manufacturing environments.