Advanced Packaging & Manufacturing Technology 

The evolution of advanced packaging has progressed at a mind-numbing pace.  In the past five years, we have experienced tremendous growth in the capabilities and services we offer. 

 

Developing processes with the latest technology is a passion and just part of our goal.  It holds no value if we fail to take a moment to keep our customers informed of the multitude of ways we can help them by utilizing these new advancements.

 

Early 1990’s 

 

Analog Technologies Corp (ATC) was an early adopter and proponent for Surface Mount Technology (SMT).  SMT offered significant advantages for RF and high-speed circuitry as well as miniaturization and lower assembly costs.  ATC developed very low volume assembly methods to support its designs and customer prototypes.

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Mid to late 1990’s

 

Ball Grid Array’s (BGA) appeared in mid-1990s.  Since the solder sphere contacts are on the bottom of the package, positioning, alignment, thermal profiling, rework, and inspection posed significant challenges.  Analog procured equipment including SMT placement and rework equipment with specialized optics, X-Ray, and developed processes to address the challenges of attaching BGAs reliably.

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Late 1990’s

 

Wire Bonding

Analog’s first wire bonder was a wedge bonder. Wedge bonding ribbon wire and thicker diameter wire offers advantages in RF and high current applications and could process both Gold (Au) and Aluminum (Al) wires.

 

Flip Chips

 

ATC was one of very few companies globally with the capability to successfully process flip chips and has been successfully processing them for over 24 years.

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Flip chips are inverted bare semiconductor die that have interconnects on the same side of the destination substrate. They are similar to BGAs, but contain smaller connection points, finer pitch, and are typically un-molded. ATC started with PCB line widths and spaces were in the 3 - 5 mil range. Substrates included flex, ceramic, and epoxy glass. Underfill was added for die ruggedization.

 

2000 - 2010

 

Lead-Free Solder Challenges

 

The industry’s change to lead-free dramatically affected component packages and assembly technologies.  Analog has developed innovative methods to address challenging component and substrate issues related to oxidation, mechanical stress, and temperature limitations.  We continue to add to our repertoire of methods, equipment, and materials to solve challenging packaging problems.

 

Chip-On-Board (COB)

 

Chip-On-Board is mounting bare semiconductor die on printed circuit board (PCB) substrates, wire bonding the die to the substrate, and encapsulating with epoxy.  Analog has considerable knowledge and experience with methods, processes, and materials for COB.

 

Package Balling and Re-balling

 

BGA’s are often expensive components.  Occasionally, there is need to remove or replace a BGA from a printed circuit board assembly (PCBA).  ATC developed special processes for its own needs and offered them as a service to customers.  

Today, in addition to BGAs, we have attached solder balls to interposers, high-performance sockets, and other various package types.

 

Thermal Packaging

 

Analog developed state-of-the art methods and processes for efficient thermal transfer from devices to substrates.  We have designed products and collaborated with customers to achieve optimal thermal performance.

 

Fine Pitch Assembly

 

Miniaturized SMT component packages proliferated in the first decade of 2000.  Fine pitch technologies require improved assembly processes, equipment, and quality control.  Analog invested in equipment and processes to address fine pitch and high component density assemblies. We have extensive experience with BGAs, QFNs, LGAs, DFNs, CSPs, and micro BGAs (uBGA). 

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2010 – 2020

 

Automatic Ball Bonding

 

Analog Technologies Corp expanded our wire bonding capability and capacity in this period.  We added automatic ball bonder capabilities, die attach, plasma cleaning, and associated quality control equipment such as X-Ray, high magnification microscopes, pull test, and shear testing.

 

Silver (Ag) Sintering

 

Since 2016, ATC developed sintering processes to advance its thermal packaging capabilities and support High Power Density designs. Thermal conductivity of these sintering materials can be 2x – 3x (or greater) when compared to traditional solders. This increase in thermal conductivity has a direct impact on device and package performance.

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Sintering can be performed as a pressureless process, and at temperatures below what is normally seen during standard soldering reflow profile. The material itself is not prone to any sort of self-centering that you may see with solders, meaning where you place your part is where it will stay.

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Package on Package (PoP)

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Our Package on Package technology was a natural progression from our experience with BGA’s, flip chips, interposers, balling technology, and materials. ATC has assembled package stacks of multiple tiers and with a wide variety of component interconnect combinations (BGA, Flip Chip, Interposer, Socket, and Other)

2020 to present

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Clean Room

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A clean room environment was added in 2022 to enhance our advanced packaging capability.  In some advanced packages, component feature sizes are in the same order of magnitude as airborne particulate.  A clean room improves assembly quality and reliability by controlling the assembly environment. 

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Next-Generation Advanced Packages

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ATC continuously evaluates, updates, and improves equipment and processes in preparation for component packaging technology advances.  Experience with System in Package (SiP), System on Chip (SoC), Copper Pillars (Cu Pillar), alternate interconnect materials, and embedded technologies has poised Analog Technologies Corp to be ready for future technology demands.

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Conversations with clients, and seeing their enthusiasm helped us realize, there are a multitude of new services we now offer. It’s time to make those known. Our intention is to start a conversation about the rapid advancements in electronics packaging, and how Analog Technologies remains on the leading edge to support your efforts. Being there for, and helping our customers excel at the work they do, is why we continue this enduring effort. We are here for your electronic packaging and manufacturing process needs.