Oct 14 2014
Flip chips are appearing in a plethora of high-volume consumer products such as mobile phones, digital cameras, MP3 players, and computer peripherals. Wafer-level packaging (WLP), the fabrication of the package directly on the wafer, is experiencing exceptional growth and stands out as one of the bright growth areas in electronics today.
WLP offers lower cost, a smaller package, higher performance and added functionality compared to older methods. This report examines the market for flip chip ICs, and the lithography and wet etch tools used in their manufacture.
Total flip chip sales represented 11% of worldwide IC production in 2010 but will grow to more than 18% in 2017 Flip chip comprised only 5% of IC production in 2005.
Equipment vendors are taking advantage of the booming market. Overall semiconductor front-end (before the flip chip packaging steps) equipment sales will exhibited a growth rate 4% between 2010 and 2013. In contrast, sputtering and copper electrodeposition equipment, main sectors of the flip chip equipment market, exhibited a growth rate of 17%.
Why is flip chip projected to grow so strongly? It is widely understood that flip chips offer a variety of benefits compared to traditional wire-bond packaging, including superior thermal and electrical performance.
In the world of high-speed/high-performance IC and package design, flip chips are appearing in a plethora of high-volume consumer products such as mobile phones, digital cameras, MP3 players, and computing. In Apple Computer's (AAPL) iPad, 20% of the ICs on the motherboard are made up of flip chip packages. The same percentage holds for the Motorola (MOT) Android. For mobile devices, the market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 30%, from a little more than 500 million ICs in 2010 to 1.9 billion in 2015 – a huge growth rate compared to less than a 10% growth rate for overall ICs.
Source: http://www.reportbuyer.com