Current Issue The International Reference for Chip-Scale Electronics, Flip-Chip Technology, Optoelectronic Interconnection and Wafer-Level Packaging January - February 2002 Email the editor

By Ron Iscoff, Editor, and Dr. Subash Khadpe*, Contributing Editor

On June 25, 1950, troops from Communist-led North Korea attacked its neighbor to the south.

Until a truce was declared on July 27, 1953, the North-aided by the Chinese Communists-ravaged South Korea in one of the bloodiest wars in history.

Now, nearly a half-century after the last shots were fired, the nation of South Korea has made a stunning turnaround, while the still belligerent North continues to live mired in the past.

No longer known for its pockmarked landscape, a souvenir of the war, the South Korea is one of Asia's key technologists, and the home to such multinational semiconductor companies as Hyundai and Samsung.

Thanks to its four large IC packaging foundries, South Korea is a leader in the IC assembly business.

Figure 1. Amkor's K4 plant is one of four acquired from Anam, Korea.	Figure 2. Signetics Korea, one of the top 15 IC assembly companies, has been in business for 35 years.

These are Amkor Technology (Figure 1), the world's largest, with assembly and test sales of more than $2 billion in 2000 [amkor.com]. ASE Group, the world's second-largest, enjoyed sales of $1.62 billion in 2000 [aseglobal.com].

ChipPAC, the fourth largest, recorded sales of $494 million in 2000 [chippac.com], while Signetics (Figure 2), [signetics.com] one of the top 15, posted sales of about $200 million in 2000.

The country is also the home base of two of the three largest DRAM players in the world-Hynix (formerly Hyundai) and Samsung. Between them, they accounted for $12.5 billion in DRAM revenues in 2000.

A third growth area is flip-chip technology. Both Amkor and ChipPAC are increasing their flip-chip activities in Korea, and both have licensed high-performance flip-chip technology from LSI Logic in Milpitas, Calif.

Smaller local companies, as well, are entering the flip-chip services market. Among them is MicroScale Co. Ltd., [microscale.co.kr] which also claims it is Korea's first and largest wafer-bumping house.

Founded in February 2000, MicroScale opened its factory last June in Yulbuk, about 80 Km south of Seoul.

Currently, MicroScale says it's targeting LCD driver ICs, which require a bumping process. Later the company will offer solder bumping services for telecom and computer ICs, according to Kyu-Sung Hwang, president and CEO.

In addition to heavy flip-chip activity, Korean giants Samsung and LG Semicon have become significant players in the worldwide substrate market for BGAs.

For example, ChipPAC, one of the world's top BGA producers (for Intel, among others), bought about 65 percent of its substrates in 2000 from Korean suppliers.

Figure 3. PHICOM produces a wide range of products for electronics, including probe cards.	Figure 4. Han-Mi Company's sawing, cleaning and placement system

Moving from a largely agrarian economy to one dependent mostly on technology, as Korea has, often presents a country with a double-edged sword.

As Greg Johnson, president of Signetics Korea High Technology, the company's North American sales, support and marketing arm in San Jose points out, "The Korean economy has become more dependent upon the semiconductor market in the past few years.

"As a result, the recent recession has had a serious effect on the overall Korean economy. The low prices of DRAM chips, as well as the decline in prices on all semiconductor products, is much steeper today than in 1996," Johnson says.

Johnson adds that Korea must work to maintain its international competitiveness in ICs. This will require, he says, a more focused approach to business outside Korea and a change in strategic investments to address new, emerging markets.

Additionally, Korea is seeing more domestic companies following the U.S. fabless model. "This may allow the Korean semiconductor market to become more competitive in the future."

In the past, most Korean semiconductor equipment suppliers faced extraordinary difficulty in gaining acceptance for their equipment outside their home markets. With the growing acceptance of wafer-level processing, however, this may be changing.

Figure 5. KOSES KWA970 Solder Ball Attach System for wafers

E. J. Choi of Phicom, a Korean equipment maker (Figure 3), notes that the company is developing a wafer-level contact system with a proprietary probe chuck [phicom.com]. This chuck enables the expansion of parallel test to cover all the die at the same time.

This probe, according to Choi, will employ both MEMs and MOEMs.

EO Technics, a pioneer in the development of pen-type laser marking systems, is also looking closely at the WLCSP market [eotechnics.com].

A WLCSP marking system, the CSM 2000, is one of the company's key, new products and enables all tested good die to be individually marked with the laser system.

The Han-Mi Co., Inchon, has developed an extensive line of assembly equipment. Its machinery includes a ball mounting system, saw singulation equipment and pick-and-place units (Figure 4) [hanmico.com].

KOSES, another Korean equipment provider, is offering a range of machines for application ranging from PBGAs to wafers. The company's KWA970 solder ball placement system is shown in Figure 5.

Overall, Korea-with Taiwan-should continue to be one of the technology and volume leaders in IC assembly.

But don't forgot, China-an up-and-coming player-waiting in the wings.