 Technology Leadership
Fred Kulicke and Albert Soffa initiated a partnership in 1951 designing and manufacturing innovative and unique automated solutions that helped the broader manufacturing and processing industry achieve its goals. Throughout this unique history Kulicke & Soffa became a manufacturer of solutions.
Today, leveraging a diverse Research and Development group consisting of over five-hundred employees in six countries, K&S continues to work closely with customers and industry leaders to overcome new hurdles. Technological process advancement through innovation is an overwhelming strategy and the core of new feature and product development. The company’s core technology competencies can be broadly categorized in the following groups:
HSM: High Speed Motion
Kulicke & Soffa's historical focus and ability to unite high speed and high precision is an exceptional differentiator from the competition.
Proprietary servo control development in combination
with low mass, high stiffness materials have enabled competitive advantages in throughput, accuracy and
process robustness.
Current bonding
products achieve X and Y accelerations between 18 to 20 Gs with positioning
accuracy under 1µm, while Z axis motions run at approximately 300 Gs.
These differentiators
have sustained the Equipment division’s competitive position and are leveraged
across the entire product portfolio.
VS: Vision System
- The vision system consists of state of the art optics and illumination designs combined with application specific processing software that enables highly efficient interactions with the outside world.
- The
vision system is used on equipment for die alignment, die placement and post bond inspection.
- K&S engineers are equipped with advanced
simulation analysis and modeling techniques which allow them to create tools to solve the industry’s most demanding problems.
US: Ultrasonics
Specific frequencies
of ultrasonic energy are used during the bonding process to attach a wire onto
a semiconductor die in both primary and secondary bonds.
Innovative dual
frequency bond heads have the unique ability to quickly change frequencies
between first and second bonds. This has significantly improved the quality and
productivity of worldwide semiconductor packaging.
Cross-collaboration
between electrical, mechanical and materials engineers have allowed the creation
of highly portable and scalable ultrasonic designs that deliver consistent
results.
PD: Packaging
Development
The Packaging Development
team leverages new and existing relationships with industry leaders,
universities and organizations to drive next generation packaging products.
K&S has worked
intimately in enabling previous industry shifts such as bonding on active circuitry,
bonding with ultra-fine pitch gold and most recently enabling the significant copper transition.
In addition to large
industry shifts, the K&S team works hand-in-hand with customer’s to create
solutions that address their unique challenges.
MH: Material Handling
Material handling
systems directly interact with customers’ products, which range from
individual vertically mounted LEDs to 300mm wafers.
Material handling
requires several disparate electro-mechanical devices orchestrating seamlessly
to safely and efficiently transport a customer’s products through the bonding equipment.
Throughout its history, K&S has enabled the use of thinner and wider materials which
result in smaller and less costly packages, further increasing the industry’s
productivity.
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