09/01/2004  There are lots of reasons why companies buy other companies.

09/01/2004  Although the proliferation of semiconductor packages has been a part of the industry for the past 20 years, the last several years have seen the rate of proliferation accelerate.

09/01/2004  The Electronic Packaging Lab at the University at Buffalo has earned a reputation for its cutting-edge work in developing computational and experimental measurement tools for facilitating the development of the next-generation microelectronics packaging.

09/01/2004  It is once again with great pleasure that Advanced Packaging Magazine congratulates the winners and participants of the 2004 Advanced Packaging Awards.

08/30/2004  (August 30, 2004) Ithaca, N.Y.—Time is fast running out for the semiconductor industry as transistors become ever smaller and their insulating layers of silicon dioxide, already only atoms in thickness, reach maximum shrinkage. In addition, the thinner the silicon layer becomes, the greater the amount of chemical dopants that must be used to maintain electrical contact. And the limit here also is close to being reached.

08/27/2004  (August 27, 2004) Research Triangle Park, N.C.—The acquisition announced last month of Unitive Inc. by Amkor Technology, Inc. is complete. Unitive, a leading provider of wafer level technologies and services for flip chip and wafer level packaging applications, now operates as a subsidiary of Amkor.

08/24/2004  (August 24, 2004) Hsinchu, Taiwan—ChipMOS Technologies Ltd. has, through its subsidiaries ChipMOS Technologies Inc. and ThaiLin Semiconductor Corp., entered into an agreement with First International Computer Testing and Assembly Technology, Inc. (FICTA) whereby ChipMOS will purchase all of FICTA's testing and assembly assets from its Hsinchu, Taiwan operation. The transaction is valued at approximately US$30 million.

08/23/2004  (August 23, 2004) Franklin, Mass.—Speedline Technologies, Inc., announced today that it has entered into four new alliances to strengthen its sales, customer service and marketing reach throughout Southeast Asia.

08/17/2004  (August 17, 2004) Cranston, R.I.—AIM announced today the formation of AIM Semiconductor Packaging Materials. This new division is a direct subsidiary of AIM Specialty Materials, which specializes in indium- and gold-alloys for a variety of joining applications.

08/16/2004  (August 16, 2004) San Diego, Calif.—KIC, a leader in thermal process development and control software, will co-sponsor a lead-free workshop on October 13-14, 2004, at the Engent facility in Norcross, Georgia. Other co-sponsors include Engent, Henkel Technologies and Speedline Technologies.

08/03/2004  (August 3, 2004) Santa Clara, Calif.—"Where will wafer-level packaging take place?" That is among the topics of the next MicroElectronics Packaging and Test Engineering Council (MEPTEC) 1-day technical symposium coming up on August 19th in Santa Clara, Calif. MEPTEC will bring together experts from various areas of the wafer-level packaging/processing fields to help answer that and other questions related to wafer-level packaging.

08/01/2004  On June 21 in Austin, Texas, I moderated a panel for the Global Business Council (GBC) of IMAPS covering the global flip chip business overview.

08/01/2004  About 10 years ago, I held an aluminized silicon wafer in hand, curiously regarding a dull, non-reflective square covering most of the surface.

07/21/2004  July 21, 2004 - Amkor Technology Inc., Chandler, AZ, has agreed to acquire Unitive Inc., Research Triangle Park, NC, for $48 million, gaining technology and capacity for 300mm electroplated wafer bumping, lead-free wafer bumping and wafer-level packaging, and bump/probe assembly and test capabilities in Taiwan and the US.

07/21/2004  (July 21, 2004) Chandler, Ariz.—Amkor Technology, Inc. signed agreements to acquire privately-held North Carolina-based Unitive, Inc., and to obtain a majority interest of approximately 60 percent in Unitive Semiconductor Taiwan Corporation (UST), a joint venture between Unitive and various Taiwanese investors. Unitive, Inc. and UST are among the world's leading providers of services for flip chip and wafer level packaging applications.

07/19/2004  (July 19, 2004) Nashua, N.H.—We have just returned from SEMICON West. Most of the exhibitors were pretty excited about the bustle of people stopping by their booths to see what's new in back-end assembly equipment and materials.

07/15/2004  (July 19, 2004) Nashua, N.H.—Advanced Packaging magazine has released the names of the winners of its 2004 Advanced Packaging Awards. Electroglas, Inc., ASAT Holdings Limited and Robotic Vision Systems, Inc. are among the companies that received honors for innovations in advanced packaging technology. The awards ceremony took place July 14 at the SEMICON West 2004 exposition in San Jose, California.

07/14/2004  (July 14, 2004) San Francisco, Calif.—SEMI, an international association for companies in the microelectronics and display industries, announced yesterday the appointment of Tetsuro (Terry) Higashi as its new chairman of the board of directors. The results of the association's annual elections were released at the SEMICON West exposition in San Francisco. Higashi, current chairman of Tokyo Electron Limited, succeeds George Chamillard, who served as SEMI's chairman for the past year.

07/09/2004  (July 9, 2004) San Francisco, Calif.—At SEMICON West 2004, Mexican Secretary of the Economy Fernando Canales Clariond, Baja California Governor Eugenio Elorduy Walther, and developers will discuss their plans to create a 10,000-acre industrial park for the high-tech industry along the shared border between Mexico and the United States.

07/07/2004  (Business Wire, July 7, 2004) San Jose, Calif.—Tessera Technologies, Inc., a semiconductor packaging technology developer, announced that it signed a technology licensing agreement with NEC Electronics Corporation of Kawasaki, Japan, one of the world's ten largest semiconductor manufacturers. NEC Electronics uses Tessera's technology in a broad range of its semiconductor devices, including application-specific integrated circuits and logic devices.