IC Substrate - Integrated trend of semiconductor packaging and circuit board assembly

The impact of the integration trend of semiconductor packaging and PCB circuit board assembly on the electronics manufacturing industry Richard HeimschDEK Machinery Co., Ltd. In the entire electronics industry, new packaging technologies are driving changes in the manufacturing industry to meet the requirements of small and light products such as cellular phones. Therefore, packaging modules combining active and passive components, analog and digital circuits, and even power components appear on the market. This method of mixing traditional separate functions and the ever-present packaging requirements-especially miniaturization-all levels Including wafer level, component level and circuit board level assembly and manufacturing face greater challenges. We have seen that the new packaging technology promotes the gradual integration of the back-end packaging process of the component and the front-end process of the assembly process. This process change poses an important question to today's electronic manufacturers, because this change makes the traditional boundaries and distinctions become Vague. From a technical point of view, there will be no difference between components and components; from a business point of view, the boundaries between suppliers and customers have become less clear. It can be imagined that these boundaries will continue to blur until they no longer exist.

1 What's in the chip Not long ago, component manufacturers selected and purchased components from component sellers, and then assembled them on the motherboard. SMT manufacturers are doing very well in this field, and component manufacturers have learned a lot of methods to manufacture complex components, making component prices the most important specification. As designers combine analog and digital components, or passive and active components in a single device, the package of the components becomes an unfixed function that determines the size. This is not only a good thing for manufacturers, but also creates difficulties. Only considering the substantial reduction in component size without increasing complexity, just like the development trend of 0201 size components, the future will definitely move towards 01005 components.

Facts have proved that making effective use of these smaller components is a difficult task. Their small size, as well as the economic and market demand for reducing component spacing, put a heavy burden on current automatic manufacturing equipment such as placement machines, solder paste, placement glue, solder balls, conductive epoxy, flux, and underfill The printing of solvents, thick film conductors or sealants must be fast and extremely accurate. Small hard drives, palmtops, laptops, pagers and cellular phones have a huge demand for small components that are undoubtedly more important than any manufacturing problems caused by the use of small components, and SMT manufacturers have to adapt to this change. The emergence of new packaging structures has multiplied manufacturing problems. They are different from traditional components. There is no certain standard for the physical design, size, or pin output of complex packages such as multi-chip modules. Therefore, although almost all aspects of SMT manufacturing have been highly standardized, it is impossible to explain exactly how flip chip or chip size package CSP should be wired. There is no standard for package size. What kind of external size is required for components and what is the package? size.

2 The rules of the game are changing. Unfortunately, the rapid progress towards miniaturization has pushed manufacturers into a dangerous game. Although new packages can meet the market’s demand for speed and functionality for new products, their innovation makes the final system The high-volume assembly is complicated, and therefore, it is difficult to meet the third important requirement of new products-low cost. From this point of view, the lack of standardization of new packaging is not just a manufacturing challenge. If the manufacturing process cannot quickly adapt to the new packaging, manufacturers will face delays in product launch, thus losing early sales opportunities. Early sales will generally quickly turn into products. market share. In a market with short life cycle characteristics, any delay from design to launch is very serious. If the final product cannot be manufactured quickly, or the original manufacturing equipment is abandoned due to a new packaging design, this business will not develop for a long time.

3 New business models Undoubtedly, successful manufacturers should be flexible, able to quickly cooperate with new packaging designs, and be able to effectively utilize existing important equipment. Some manufacturers are likely to start customizing "components" suitable for their manufacturing systems and processes. This allows traditional component manufacturers to intervene in the assembly field because they install active and passive components on the substrate. Therefore, an interesting by-product of the new technology It is the reorganization of the supply chain, blurring the boundaries between traditional customers and suppliers, and, more importantly, the need to establish a new business model that adapts to the current situation. In the past, vertically integrated companies were best positioned to take advantage of opportunities in the electronics market. The huge purchasing power and huge R&D budgets of these companies ensured their continued success. However, this is no longer the case. What is needed is to respond to the market and package The new model of dynamic changes in the manufacturing industry is fundamentally different from the old model. Although on the surface, the size of the same device continues to shrink, while the complexity increases, so that circuit designers now pay more attention to the packaging field.

In order to cope with such urgent manufacturing flexibility requirements, the company's operating structure should be horizontal and centralized, rather than vertically integrated. A horizontal and transparent company structure can better deliver advanced knowledge to a wide range of business partners, and is less subject to inertia. Impact. Therefore, from a strategic point of view, such companies can better survive in an industry where core competitive technologies are rapidly and continuously improved. Manufacturing must be a cooperation between the manufacturer and the manufacturing equipment supplier. If a company works with a business partner who can provide expertise, and its expertise can play an important role in this situation, the relationship between SMT and packaging Change often. In this way, the company will be able to adapt to constant change and innovation, using it as a standard. Only such a motivated company can cooperate, rather than resist the trend of integration of back-end component packaging and front-end assembly. This article is excerpted from integrated circuit applications