IC Substrate - Future market development trend of IC Substrate

The IC Substrate is mainly used to carry the IC, and the internal wiring is used to conduct the signal between the chip and the circuit board. In addition to the carrying function, the IC Substrate also has additional functions such as protecting the circuit, special lines, designing heat dissipation channels, and establishing modular standards for components.

IC Substrate is a product based on BGA (Ball Grid Array, Ball Matrix Array or Ball Array) architecture. Its manufacturing process is similar to PCB products, but its precision has been greatly improved, and it is different from PCB in material design, equipment selection, and subsequent manufacturing process. IC Substrate has become a key component in IC packaging, gradually replacing the application of some lead frames.

Based on the BGA architecture, we have developed a CSP carrier with a minimum volume package and a Flip Chip Substrate with advanced Flip Chip technology. In the field of IC carriers, common products are PBGA (Plastic BGA) carriers for general chip IC packaging, CSP packaging for communication, mobile phone and memory; FC BGA (Flip Chip BGA Substrate) is used for CPU, graphic chip, and game console MPU and Northbridge.

In the future, it is necessary to include MCM (Multi chip Module) or SiP (System in Package) in the observation. As a trend observed by Japan, SiP has become the key direction of packaging development from 2008 to 2010. At present, the material problem is further overcome and will soon become a trend.

Japan, Taiwan and South Korea are still the most important producers of IC carrier plates in the world. After 2008, Chinese Mainland's investment in IC Substrate rose, becoming potential development regions.

According to the observation of BT substrate consumption, Taiwan is an important producer of IC Substrate in the world. In addition, Taiwan's PCB material industry and equipment industry are second only to Japan in terms of development integrity, making Taiwan the second largest carrier plate producer in the world at present. Half of the world's "output" is concentrated in Taiwan. With Taiwan's strong packaging demand support, Taiwan has become the bulk of the main force of industrial migration in Taiwan. In 2008, Taiwan began to complement investment with the mainland. Taiwan can continue to develop its technological advantages, and the mass production trend in the mainland is inevitable. The trend of division of labor will make Taiwan's IC carrier plate industry the fastest growing and important supplier in the world.

In recent years, the IC Substrate produced in Japan tend to be high-class packaging products, while some of its orders are taken over by the Taiwan IC Substrate factory. However, Japan still maintains high productivity. Compared with the Taiwan IC Substrate factory, the Japanese factory's production expansion plan is much more conservative, so that its risk is controlled within a certain range.

South Korea has a large demand for packaging Substrate all from South Korea, but the expansion is relatively conservative. Therefore, South Korea, such as SEMCO and LG, mainly supplies the domestic demand.

As the global IC Substrate production capacity is sufficient, the order of the IC Substrate  factory is relatively more connected with the global application or consumer market. In the future, the Substrate factory will not only focus on the price, but will become the most important investment reference in mastering the market and application trend.