ASM International N.V. (NASDAQ: ASMI and Euronext Amsterdam: ASM) today announced that its 54%-owned subsidiary, ASM Pacific Technology Ltd. (Hong Kong Exchanges: 0522), the world's largest semiconductor assembly and packaging equipment supplier, and Microbonds Inc., a private Canadian company that has developed a pioneering insulated bonding wire technology (X-Wire™) have formed a strategic alliance.
The cooperative agreement will enable the two companies to work closely to facilitate the integration of Microbonds X-Wire Technology with ASM’s state-of-the-art wire bonders and ancillary assembly/packaging equipment and process solutions, to accelerate the adoption of this assembly process for the benefit of their mutual customers. Because insulated gold bonding wires offer superior performance-to-cost-ratio compared to other packaging technologies, they provide a unique solution to many of the current limitations and bottlenecks in existing packaging interconnect technologies.
"We are delighted to work with Microbonds to help bring X-Wire Technology to market," said Charles J. Vath, III, Vice President of Process & Packaging at ASM Technology Singapore. "As the leading supplier of packaging equipment for the IC assembly and packaging industry, ASM recognizes the compelling value that X-Wire Technology offers our customers. While the benefits of insulated bonding wires have long been appreciated, our testing of X-Wire indicates that a viable solution is finally available".
Craig Geier, President & CEO of Microbonds stated, "We are honored to be working with ASM, a world class supplier of cutting edge assembly and packaging equipment, in bringing our X-Wire Technology to market. We believe this alliance will not only accelerate the integration of our state-of-the-art technologies, but also will provide a more seamless, low-cost, high-yield interconnect solution for the assembly and packaging industry".
While the ongoing development of smaller and more powerful microchips continues to drive the need for advanced packaging technologies, corresponding advances at the packaging level interconnect, connecting the die to the package, have not kept pace with the geometry and speed at the die level. Furthermore, many of today’s wire bonding package designs cannot accommodate certain package geometries without impacting yield, and have adverse performance, size and cost issues related to wire sagging with smaller diameter and longer bond wires.
Microbonds’ proprietary X-Wire Technology enables the bonding wires to touch without causing an electrical short, facilitating the design of a wider selection of high performance-to-cost-packages. Such relaxed design rules also allow designers the flexibility to cross bond wires, achieve new geometries through area array and multi-row wire bonding, reduce substrate layers through direct to ball bonding, as well as a number of other new designs than can decrease the package size while increasing electrical performance, and thus reduce the overall cost of the package.
About ASM & ASMPT
ASM International N.V.and its subsidiaries design and manufacture equipment and materials used to produce semiconductor devices. The company provides production solutions for wafer processing (Front-end segment) as well as assembly and packaging (Back-end segment) through facilities in the United States, Europe, Japan and Asia. ASM International's common stock trades on NASDAQ (symbol ASMI) and the Euronext Amsterdam Stock Exchange (symbol ASM). For more information, visit ASMI's web site at www.asm.com.
ASM Pacific Technology Ltd., with headquarters in Hong Kong and operations in Shenzhen, China, Singapore and Malaysia is a leading supplier of a full line of assembly and packaging equipment and process solutions for the semiconductor, photonics and optoelectronics industries. ASM’s financial strength and R&D resources allow the Company to provide customers with total solutions, process innovations, package development and factory automation. For further information, visit www.asmpacific.com.
About Microbonds
Microbonds Inc. is a privately held Canadian Corporation that has created pioneering inter-connect technologies that are a foundation for the adoption of the first new inter-connect standard to be introduced in the microchip design and packaging industries in the last 50 years. Historically, the choice has been between low-cost bare wire bond and high-performance/cost bump-based interconnect technologies. Now, Microbonds X-Wire™ Technologies introduces a third way – a low-cost, high-yield, high-performance way.
Safe Harbor Statement under the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995:
The statements regarding orders, earnings development and the effects of research and new products on ASM’s future, and other matters discussed in this statement, except for any historical data, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. These include, but are not limited to economic conditions in the semiconductor industry, currency fluctuations, the timing of significant orders, market acceptance of new products, competitive factors, risk factors related to litigation and other risks indicated in filings from time to time with the SEC and Stock Exchange Authorities.
Bron : ASM International
