September - October 1999
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K&S 8020 Wire Bonder Integrated into ESEC's Autoline
The ESEC Group of Cham, Switzerland, will integrate Kulicke & Soffa Industries' Model 8020 wire bonder into the ESEC Autoline platform. The 8020 was introduced about two years ago.
The longtime competitors said they will join forces "to meet a growing number of customer requests for optimal solutions in automation and factory integration."
The collaboration between ESEC and K&S, the wire bond leader of Willow Grove, Pa., was showcased during SEMICON West, San Jose, where an ESEC Autoline with the K&S 8020 wire bonder was demonstrated in the K&S booth.
Management from both companies took great pains during the show to explain the reasons behind the collaboration.
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| The K&S Model 8020 wire bonder. |
Inside...
- See "Assembly Lines" by Editor Ron Iscoff for more on the ESEC-K&S story, page 9.
- HP's test and measurement business becomes Agilent Technologies, page 64.
| SEMI Forecast Reflects Growing Optimism for Strong Recovery | |||||||||
| Equipment Type | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | ||||
| $B | $B | %chg | $B | %chg | $B | %chg | $B | %chg | |
| Wafer Process | $18.5 | $14.2 | -23.2% | $15.6 | 9.8% | $18.5 | 18.7 | $23.0 | 24.5% |
| Other Front End | $2.1 | $1.7 | -15.5% | $1.9 | 10.5% | $2.3 | 18.4% | $2.7 | 19.9% |
| Assembly & Packaging | $1.8 | $1.5 | -17.2% | $1.7 | 13.3% | $2.0 | 15.9% | $2.3 | 16.9% |
| Test | $5.2 | $4.4 | -15.8% | $4.6 | 4.2% | $5.4 | 17.5% | $6.2 | 14.9% |
| Total Equipment | $27.6 | $21.8 | -20.9% | $23.8 | 9.0% | $28.1 | 18.3% | $34.3 | 21.8% |
Mountain View, Calif. -Semiconductor equipment companies are optimistic about prospects for a business recovery during the rest of this year, according to material released by SEMI at SEMICON West.
Respondents to the July 1999 SEMI Capital Equipment Consensus Forecast predict that the industry will grow 9 percent above 1998's figures, reaching $23.8 billion this year (see table).
The forecast includes input from 85 of the trade association's member companies in the U.S., Europe and Japan.
Data was collected from surveys issued between May and June 1999 by the SEMI market statistics department. Companies supplying data represent about 80 percent of the total sales volume for the global semiconductor equipment industry.
The 9 percent growth is up from the November 1998 survey, which projected only 6.7 percent improvement for the year. Industry optimism carried into projections for 2000 and 2001, with annual increases of 18.3 and 21.8 percent, respectively.
"The results of this survey express renewed confidence among equipment manufacturers about the prospects for growth in the semiconductor industry," said Stanley Myers, SEMI president.
www.semi.org
Seen at SEMICON West
With the talk upbeat and floor traffic brisk, the assembly and test portion of SEMICON West at the McEnery Convention Center, San Jose, reflected a strong optimism for industry recovery.
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| Richard Brancato, president of ASAT, Inc. (right), chats with Ven Holalkere, manager of assembly and packaging for Level One Communications. |
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| Scientific Sealing Technology, Downey, Calif., received a constant flow of visitors at its booth during the show. SST's booth personnel shown are, from left without coats, Linus Cremer, Micro Marketing (Florida rep.) , Don Place, sales manager-western region (with glasses, center) and Joe Craven, sales manager-eastern region. |
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| Exhibitors were generally elated with the busy flow of traffic through the aisles. |
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| McEnery Center, San Jose, was again the site of SEMICONWest's test, assembly and packaging event in July. |
Prasad Given IEEE Award
Bangalore, India-Dr. Shankara Prasad, managing director of APT International, has been awarded an IEEE Major Educational Innovation Award for his development of interactive multimedia training programs on IC assembly. The programs, which include two on wirebonding, are available on CD-ROM.
Dr. Prasad, who was recently the director of engineering and technology development at CS2 in Belgium, operates APT from Bangalore, known as the software capital of India.
Correction
The table in our July/August article on wire bonding contained the wrong phone number for ESEC. The correct number for ESEC's Phoenix office is 480.893.6990.
Japanese Continue to Dominate Microvia Technology
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| The Japanese lead worldwide microvia production with 61 percent, according to TechSearch International. |
TechSearch says Japan achieved this dominance because many Japanese companies employed a combination of fine-pitch CSPs and microvia boards to meet domestic consumer product and mobile phone miniaturization demands.
There are more than 75 companies worldwide with microvia capability. Laser and photovia processes are used for most microvia production, with 70 percent of the world's microvia production capacity based on laser-ablated vias, according to TechSearch.
The study, "High-Density Microvia Substrates: Markets, Applications and Infrastructure," finds two distinct microvia markets: product boards and IC package substrates. "These markets," says TechSearch, "have distinctly different drivers, reliability requirements and price structures."
Mobile phones are the largest market for microvia technology in product boards, and microvia boards "are expected to find increasing use in digital cellular phones as denser packaging of fine-pitch CSP and BGA parts becomes critical."
www.techsearchinc.com
EMPAK and Fluoroware Merger Forms Entegris
Chaska, Minn. -The merger between EMPAK, Colorado Springs, Colo., and Fluoroware, providers of materials management products here, has been completed, resulting in the newly named Entegris Inc., based in Chaska.
The name is derived from the Latin "integritas," meaning "soundness, complete or undivided," and the word "excellence." The new company will have a combined employment of 1,500 personnel.
www.entegris.com
Cognex Wins $11.8 MillionOrder from Shinkawa Ltd.
Natick, Mass. -Cognex Corp., a machine vision systems supplier, has received an order for $11.8 million from Shinkawa Ltd., representing the largest order ever received in Cognex's 18-year history.
Shinkawa Ltd., Tokyo, the largest Japanese maker of wire bonders, will integrate the vision systems into wire bonding, die bonding and TAB equipment, according to Cognex.
www.cognex.com
UNITEC Will RepresentOZ Technologies in Korea
Hayward, Calif. -OZ Technologies Inc. has appointed UNITEC Corp. of Seoul to represent the OZ TEK line of test products in Korea.
"Korea will be an important contributor to OZ TEK's continued growth and UNITEC Corp. will give the company a strong presence in that country," said Bruce Rogers, OZ TEK's vice president of sales and marketing.
www.oztek.com
SEMATECH Exec Joins Kulicke & Soffa Industries
Willow Grove, Pa. -Alexander A. Oscilowski, formerly vice president and chief operating officer of the SEMATECH consortium, has joined Kulicke & Soffa Industries as vice president of strategic marketing.
Reporting to C. Scott Kulicke, chairman/CEO, Oscilowski has assumed worldwide strategic marketing responsibility for all of the company's business units.
www.kands.com
Payne and Schultz Appointed to Sales Posts
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| Derek Schultz |
Payne, who joined the company from Kam Circuits Ltd., is based in the U.K. He has been named European sales manager. Schultz, who earlier worked for Sheldahl in Northfield, Minn. has been named western regional sales manager, based in California.
IBM Announces High-Performance Flip-Chip Package
Fishkill, N.Y. -IBM has developed a high-performance chip carrier (HPCC), which is the company's first organic BGA offering that employs a compensation layer for flip-chip-attached devices. Customer prototypes are due later this year, with full production planned for 2000.
The carrier incorporates a fluoropolymer dielectric, which IBM claims reduces noise and enhances signal speeds, making it especially useful for telecom applications, such as routers, hubs and switching devices.
This low-stress flip-chip laminate package is also targeted to graphics applications that function at high data processing speeds.
In addition to its low dielectric constant, the HPCC boasts a seven-metal-layer configuration with a tri-plate structure for improved electrical characteristics.
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| Customer prototypes of IBM's HPCC are due later this year. |
The HPCC employs a stress compensation layer internal to the package. The compensation layer is combined with the compliance of dielectric material to provide a low-stress set of materials. When an IC is attached using flip chip, these low-stress materials compensate for the CTE mismatch between the chip and PC board.
The HPCC complies with all JEDEC body sizes and is planned to meet JEDEC level 4 testing criteria. Specs are shown in the table.
IBM says the HPCC package has been design to support chip speeds in the gigahertz range, as well as high bandwidths.
www.chips.ibm.com
3M Acquires Phoenix-BasedSocket Maker Tronix Corp.
Austin -The 3M Company has acquired Tronix Corp., a Phoenix, Ariz.-based maker of high-performance test and burn-in sockets. The Tronix product line will join Textool sockets, now manufactured and distributed by 3M's Electronic Handling and Protection Division here.
Before the acquisition, Tronix supplied sockets and contactors for BGA, CSP, LGA and SO package types under the MicroTouch name.
www.3m.com/ehpd
PWB, Flexible Circuits Production Set Record Last Year
Northbrook, Ill. -Combined world production of PWBs and flexible circuits set a record high of $34.3 billion in 1998, according to a report published by IPC's Technology Market Research Council (TMRC).
The data is from TMRC's Report on the World Market for Printed Wiring Boards and Substrate Materials. IPC estimates that PWB production was $31.5 billion, and flex circuits accounted for $2.8 billion last year.
Japan led the market for rigid PWBs with 25.3 percent last year, followed by the U.S. with 24.5 percent and Europe with 17.9 percent. Taiwan captured 10.5 percent, followed by China/Hong Kong with 6.6 percent and South Korea with 5.3 percent.
Both Japan and the U.S. lost market share compared to 1997, down from 25.4 percent and 26.1 percent, respectively.
For more information on the report, contact Carla Wehrspann, IPC's director of market research and education, at 847.790.5317 or by e-mail tocarlawehrspann@ipc.org.
CS2 Acquires IMEC License
Leuven, Belgium -IMEC, a European microelectronics research center, recently licensed wafer-level, thinfilm processing technology to CS2, an IC packaging foundry based near Brussels.
The technology transfer includes:
- Flip-chip bumping (electroless and electrolytic underbumping, with screen printing and plating options for bumps)
- Flip-chip redistribution techniques
- Wafer-level packaging, including thin- film on glass
- High-density packaging technology with embedded passives for RF front-end applications
Teradyne Invests in LogicVision
Boston -ATE maker Teradyne Inc. has made a strategic investment in LogicVision Inc., San Jose.
As part of their agreement, the companies will work together "to define the total test requirements of customers to provide cost effective test solutions for very deep submicron and system-on-a-chip designs."
www.teradyne.com
Cirrus Logic Transfers Fab to Lucent Technologies
Orlando, Fla. -Lucent Technologies has acquired Cirent Semiconductor, a joint venture wafer fab originally owned by Lucent and Cirrus Logic, Fremont, Calif.
The Lucent agreement follows a similar accord between Cirrus Logic and IBM, which gave IBM full control of its Cirrus joint venture, MiCRUS, in East Fishkill, N.Y.
When both agreements become effective, Cirrus Logic will return to its original fabless model, the company said.
Under the Lucent agreement, Cirent will supply wafers to Cirrus Logic through Dec. 31, 2000.
www.lucent.com
MMS Acquires Test Group
Phoenix -Motorola's Advanced Test Group (ATG), a business unit of the company's Semiconductor Products Sector, has been transferred to Motorola Manufacturing Systems (MMS).
ATG has been developing and manufacturing advanced test equipment, including handlers and vision systems for use by Motorola SPS factories. The test equipment will now be sold internationally by MMS, which develops and sells assembly equipment.
Amkor Opens EuropeanEngineering Support Center
Lyon, France -Amkor Technology Inc. has opened an engineering support center, targeted to system-on-a-chip designs, for its wafer-fabrication services.
Amkor, which is the largest provider of contract chip packaging and test services, now offers 0.21-micron and 0.25-micron CMOS processes at the Lyon fab.
www.amkor.com
Ortenzi Appointed MPI's Quality Assurance Manager
San Diego, Calif. -Nick Ortenzi has joined Microelectronic Packaging Inc. as quality assurance manager. He will be responsible for implementing a company TQM program.
Ortenzi formerly held quality management posts at National Semiconductor, Motorola, Northstar Electronics, the Sony Technology Center and TRW.
www.mpix.com
AMD Names Doran VP/GM for Dresden Facility
Sunnyvale, Calif. -Advanced Micro Devices has appointed James E. Doran vice president and general manager of AMD Saxony Manufacturing GmbH, headquartered in Dresden, Germany.
Doran was previously vice presdient of Fab 25 and Submicron Development Center Operations. He will report to Gary Heerssen, group vice president of AMD's Wafer Fab Group.
www.amd.com
Flex Circuits Production Begins at 3M's Singapore Plant
Singapore- 3M Company's new $300 million, 580,000-square-foot facility has begun production of 3M Microflex circuits. The plant is one of the largest flex circuit manufacturing plants in the world and is the largest factory that 3M has ever built.
3M said the Woodlands Plant was completed in record time, marking the fastest completion for any Singapore-based manufacturing plant with more than 250,000 square feet.
Woodlands joins 3M's other Microflex production facilities in Columbia, Mo., and Kimitsu City, Japan. Woodlands is the largest of the three.
3M Microflex is a thin, adhesiveless, polyimide-based flexible circuit. Micro-flex, according to 3M, can serve as the primary circuit board in medical applications, such as hearing aids, as an interconnect interposer between silicon and PC board in IC packages.
www.3m.com/microflex