SEMICON West 2011 was a busy show. Attendance was up, and the flow of people through the packaging exhibit area was steady throughout the three-day conference.
The Photovoltaic section has grown so large that it took over the entire West Hall building, even overflowing into the North Hall where the back-end packaging companies exhibited. It was reported that there was a 10% increase in exhibitors from 2010 to 2011, with 711 exhibitors and over 30,000 registered attendees.
This year's theme was "The Elements of Innovation." The show had images of the classic elements: Earth, Air (wind), Water and Fire placed strategically throughout the exhibit halls. If one were to spin on that theme, we could look into first level interconnect processes...
Earth can represent things that are solid. A very high-accuracy die bonder, like the 3800 Die Bonder, requires a very solid base to build upon. Its 0.1-micron linear encoders would not be able to resolve 3.5-micron repeatability (3 sigma) without a very strong base.
Air (wind) can represent things that move. The powerful linear motors on the 3800 Die Bonder are able to drive the system to cycles up to 2600 component placements per hour. Flipping mechanisms allow for 90- or 180-degree motions, enabling a wide variety of die attach processes.
Water can represent things that are liquid.
The 3800 Die Bonder can dispense up to three channels of fluids. The system dispenses with positive displacement pumps, time/pressure pumps, piston pumps or constant volume pumps. Fluids can also be daubed or transfer printed if dot size must be very small (under 10 mils.)
Fire can represent things that melt metal. All of our die attach systems (3500, 3800, 6500) are capable of fully automated eutectic die attach. This can be accomplished by a Pulsed Heat System for the eutectic material, or eutectic scrubbing with a steady state temperature. Heating can occur from under the package, or through the bond tool itself.
Now in the second half of 2011, Palomar Technologies is witnessing a measurable increase in die attach needs in the complex packaging markets. The long-standing 3500 Die Bonder is truly a workhorse in this environment. Our award-winning 3800 Die Bonder is driving solutions that require even higher final placement accuracies, and increased throughput. The 6500 Die Bonder is in a class of its own, with 1.5-micron (3 sigma) final-placement accuracy capabilities.
Palomar Technologies’ SEMICON West 2011 booth highlighted a video of our packaging solutions and Assembly Services on a next generation very large curved LED-driven display made by fellow Carlsbad-based company—Ostendo Technologies. Our Assembly Services division is an excellent provider of paid services including new process development, rapid prototyping and small-volume contract manufacturing.
We encourage all of our capital equipment customers to leverage the services available from Assembly Services while we are assembling their systems. It is the ultimate in risk mitigation. Designs, processes, and tooling can all be optimized leading to a well-characterized solution prior to factory acceptance. For those that are fabless, Assembly Services can create new innovative products that a company can farm out to larger contract manufacturers once they capture their contracts.
The Palomar team is eager for next year's SEMICON West show, where we will exhibit Palomar's latest advancements in high technology and complete solutions offerings. Until then, please visit our web site www.palomartechnologies.com.
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Bradley Benton
Western North America Regional Sales Manger
Palomar Technologies