Wire Bonders' Speak

This is the second blog in my "Guide to Buying a Wire and Die Bonder". It is vital to KNOW YOUR OPTIONS. Knowing your options will better help you maximize your return on investment over the long run by choosing the best bonder to meet your application needs. 

The New Bonder: much like a new car, the new bonder includes a full factory warranty and has been driven only a few gentle miles during acceptance testing. It has the new car smell, you will park it up front where everyone can see it - you especially can show it off to customers and senior staff. You will feel like a King (or Queen) - the entire capital equipment manufacturing team, of from whom you bought the bonder, is at your disposal - for it is their primary objective to satisfy you!

Although bonder manufacturers do their best to make lead times as short as possible, lead times for new machines can be longer if a) there is signifcant process development, and b) if customized material handling or tooling is required (and this can be said for all the choices)

The Demo Bonder: demostration or "demo" equipment is used at the manufacturer's site to demostrate capability and perform application for customers who are interesting purchasing equipment for their own facility. Demo systems can be a good option for customers looking for "new" equipment at a slightly reduced price; the demo system also benefits from having been "hardened" at the factory under the close supervision of the technical staff who built them. Although demo bonders have not changed title, they have seen a few application miles and been trotted around on the dog and pony show more than once. Typically, bonder manufacturing firms rotate demo machines in order to keep them fresh, and in doing so will usually only sell a few a year. Manufacturers don't rush to sell demo systems as they must backfill that demo system with a shiny new one. Because of this, demo equipment's discounts are usually modest. With this said, if you are interested in a demo system, it is best to contact the bonder manufacturer as early as possible - like anything, it is first come, first serve. Depending on your applicaiton, a demo system may require you to be flexible in your timing, accesories, tooling and material handling. These additional items are sold at "new" prices, as they were not originally part of the demo bonder.   

The Refurbished Bonder: a good microelectronics packaging system manufacturer will offer refurbished systems to its customers. A refurbished wire or die bonder is a good option for those seeking performance at a bargain price. Generally speaking, refurbished systems come from buy-backs from good customers - good meaning these customers have taken great care of the machine and kept it in good working condition. Also, these machines are almost always covered by the manufacturers service contract and warranty. Refurbished means to return the system to its near-original-condition. If neccesary, it is cosmetically repaired. The computer systems and software are updated and/or replaced and the machine is mechnically repaired and brought up to pass the same "acceptance test procedure" (ATP) - the same test procedure that is done will all new machines. A warranty is included as well. Unlike the demo and new system, refurbished machines are not scheduled and like the demo, are on a first come, first serve basis. 

The Used Bonder: reputable bonder manufacturers NEVER sell used equipment...I repeat...reputable bonder manufactuers NEVER sell used equipment!  Wire bonder, die bonder, and microelctronic packaging machines are highly complex products that require significant expertise and training to run effectively. A good bonder, will in effect "print money" for you. It's safe to say that a used bonder won't do anything for you except take up floor space and collect dust. Those who go down the road of buying a used bonder will find themselves searching for manuals, picking through spare parts, gathering odds and ends from PC boards, coming up with obsolete hardware,  software and componets. Generally, buying a used bonder elimates support all together. Additionally, the software to operate the machine is under license by the manufacturer and you will eventually have to pay a fee to use it, legally. In a lot of cases, used bonder are cannibalized for valuable spare parts or bastardized to meet the specific needs of the past owner.  The only one responsible for the used wire or die bonder plan together is you - I can promise that you would find this task somewhere between duanting and near impossible, or better said, a complete waste of your time. No matter how many cans of new car smell you spray on it, it will always smell like a burned FR4 with a hint of an overheated transformer! 

QUESTIONS?

Contact a Palomar expert to discuss how we can meet you application needs. System purchase or contract manufacturing services together or separately are ideal firms with complex, high reliability applications. 

-Steve Buerki

Its that time of year again in China. Semicon China (held in Shanghai this year) is one the largest and most important trade shows for the semiconductor industry. Semicon China is a good barometer of industry economics, future trends, and areas of growth (or otherwise). Case in point, China has the highest growth rate in the microelectronics industry and is expected to be the first to recover from the global recession. This year's show expects upwards 100,000 professional visitors, 1,000 exhibitors, 2,000 booths and 57,000 square feet of exhibit space. . This year's three theme pavilions will be 1) Reuse IC Fab Line Market and Ecosystem, 2) IC Applications of China Market, and 3) LED Manufacturing. New to the show is Semicon China's co-locations with SOLARCON China and FPD China. 

Palomar Technologies will be exhibiting with AST China in Booth #3559. Palomar will be doing two LIVE wire bonding and die bonding demonstrations.

Palomar's ultra flexible Model 3500-III Die Bonder and Automated Component Placement System with be performing:

• Flip Chip
• Component Handling
• Dot, Line, Pattern Epoxy Auger Dispensing
• Dot, Line, Pattern Time Pressure Epoxy Dispensing
• Eutectic Die Attach of Gold Tin (AuSn) with Pulse Heat Stage  - as part of this demonstration, Palomar's will showcase it's computer controlled Pulse Heat System including heat ramp and cool down graph "on-screen" along with the Pulse Heat Gauges that include cover gas, vacuum pressure, heating and cooling 
• Epoxy Daubing 

Palomar Technologies will also be doing a live wire bonding demonstration with its versatile, deep access Model 8000 Wire Bonder and Ball (Stud) Bumper. Palomar engineers will be displaying the wire bonder's capability in doing a flat ball bump and the the latest trend in Ball Bonding doing a short loop, called "stitch-stitch". The significance of "stitch-stitch" is that it the bonder creates a "bond" without setting down a "ball". This is very similar to wedge bonding, for it creates the same desired result (see image below). 

A manual system for die bond and wire bond will also be on display, in addition to a versatile wire pull, twist and die shear system.

The wire bonding and die attach applications are designed for atypical or odd form factor, complex microelectronic and optoelectronic packages. These packages are commonly used in military, aerospace, medical, telecommunications and consumer high technology industries. 

Palomar also offers precision contract assembly services through Palomar Microelectronics. These services are include supply chain management, prototyping, process development,  test, advanced packaging (wire bonding, die attach, eutectic and epoxy attach, LED packaging, RF Power Modules, complex hybrids, solar concentrators, LASERS,  and much more). All services are performed at Palomar's facility in Carlsbad, CA, USA with a full time, dedicated engineering staff and a vast high reliability equipment portfolio. Many non-US customers find Palomar's services a great value due to the high quality of work, managerial control on-site, its computerized paperless manufacturing laboratory, more for their money (due to decreased value of the dollar compared to other currencies), and protection of Intellectual Property. 

Contract assembly services are invauable for start-ups and cash strapped companies who need packaging and assembly production but don't have (or want) the resources needed for out-right capital equipment purchases.

It is rare for die bonding and wire bonding equipment manufacturers to offer contract assembly services. Microelectronic packaging equipment manufacturers are often in the best position to understand and perform assembly and packaging services. This is because of the following:

1) they have intimate knowledge and understanding of their packaging and assembly systems and how to use them

2) they know how to reconfigure the packaging and assembly systems for many unique applications

3) they have experienced engineers dedicated to fine-tuning customers' processes and products on the packaging and assembly systems

4) the packaging and assembly systems are already is in place at their showrooms, testing facilities and laboratories 

For a designer and manufacturer of automated high-precision wire bonders, die bonders and component placement systems,  providing scalable production of complex microelectronic devices at its own facilities, is a natural progression.

Because the hybrid microelectronics packaging is a niche business, and volume of system sales are low in comparision to its semiconductor sibling, the machines are built on order (usually). A glaring benefit to using contract assembly with a packaging and assembly system manufacturer is the ability to set up a (customer's) process and move into production, while that customer's systems are being built. One the system is built, then shipped, the process and production are seamlessly integrated at customer's facilities. 

If you have a contract assembly need, contact us with your challenge and we will present a solution for free. 

The need to package more in less space has caused ASIC (application specific integrated circuit) designs to become denser, thus keeping in line with "Moore's Law" if only through support of the theory itself.  

It was once thought that the best method for interconnect fine-pitch (close together) packaging was through wedge bonds - this is not the case necessarily any longer. In the late 1990's, in the midst of the optoelectronic boom, the typical bond pitch decreased from approximately 110 microns to approximately 90 microns. During that period, the average wedge tool tip was roughly one-third the width of a ball bond capillary tip. Simply put the ball bondercapillary materials lacked robustness to support fine-pitch processes. Since then, greatly improved materials have enabled fine-pitch designs where tip dimensions of less than 70 microns are more and more common.  Smaller features, higher density, and increased I/O (input/output; for example, the communication interface between a computer and a user or another system) demand finer pitch.

Palomar Microelectronics' engineers, on the front lines of the newest trends in the packaging industry, vouch for the increased customer need for smaller package size in combination with increased performance. In today's fine-pitch environment, Microelectronics performs contract assembly services to overcome fine-pitch challenges. Palomar Microelectronics General Manager Don Beck says "any device that would previously have been bonded using a wedge bonder is bonded faster using a ball bonder." 

With faster bonding, yield increases and with that cost-effectiveness goes up. In the end, it is a ROI improving proposition.