HEADLINE NEWS
CARSEM'S SiP (System-in-Package) IN FULL PRODUCTION City of Industry, CA- July 10, 2001- Carsem, a leading provider of turnkey packaging and test services to the semiconductor industry, announced today they are fully qualified and have been shipping production volumes of SiP (System-in-Package) solutions to several major customers for the past 12 months. SiP is the advanced technology of placing multiple IC's and passive components into a single package solution. Carsem can integrate a variety of die technologies and discrete components using flip chip, wire bond and stacked die capabilities on organic (BT) and ceramic (LTCC) substrates in both BGA (Ball Grid Array), and LGA (Land Grid Array) options. In addition, Carsem has the ability to package and final test a customer's device in an MLP (Micro Leadframe Package) and mount it into a SiP to address potential die yield issues thus making the SiP a very cost effective solution. The SiP is customized for each customer's application and typical package sizes range from 3x3 mm to 30x30 mm, with pitches as small as 0.5mm, mold thickness options of 0.68 mm to 2.0 mm, and passive component sizes as small as 0201. In order to get enhanced performance for some applications, the SiP can be "laser trimmed while testing" using RF, analog, mixed signal and digital testers. The final SiP assembly can be final tested and drop shipped direct to the end customer. According to Paul Smith, Carsem's Director of Marketing, "for production in the millions, a System on a Chip (SOC) is the best way to go. But it's not the fastest way to market because, in many cases, it is extremely difficult to implement. SiP allows our customers to combine digital, analog, RF die designs and passive components into one small package creating single-package solutions for various applications. There's no faster way to go from product concept, to prototype, to production." We feel this is a fast and cost effective solution for many of our customers. The industry is very dynamic and the SiP solution offers our customers a great deal of flexibility to meet the constantly changing demands. Customers can go from design concept to volume production in a matter of weeks not the several months to a few years associated with SOC. Some of our current customer's applications include BluetoothTM devices, GPS modules, hearing aids, and high performance Internet connection mini-systems," stated Gerry Blackholly, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Carsem. The winner of several industry awards, Carsem is recognized worldwide as a pioneer in the assembly and test services industry. The company has an extremely large package portfolio that includes the Micro Leadframe (MLP), System-in-Package (SiP), Flip Chip On Leadframe (FCOL™), and Small Scale Ball Grid Array (SSBGA), which are commonly used for high performance telecommunications and wireless applications. Carsem also provides turn-key test services using their mixed signal, digital, analog and RF tester platforms. David Comley, Group Managing Director of Carsem Malaysia, stated, "we recognize there is an increasing need for SiP solutions. That's why Carsem made a significant investment installing a first-class SiP manufacturing capability to support our customer's growing needs. This combined with our design and customer engineering support teams greatly expands our ability to service our current customers as well as attract and develop relationships with new customers." About Carsem |