Alter Technology: Start of mass production for plastic encapsulated semiconductor chips

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Alter Technology UK, has announced the start of mass production of semiconductor integrated circuits (microchips) into low-cost plastic encapsulated QFN packages in its UK facility. With the majority of semiconductor packaging taking place in large out-sourced assembly and test (OSAT) production lines in Asia, the announcement signifies a unique capability in the UK and Alter are one of a handful of facilities in Europe with such capability.

Traditionally UK semiconductor packaging has been focussed on low volumes using expensive ceramic and metal packages with batch sizes limited to 100s of devices packaged in a serial fashion; ideal for harsh environments and prototyping, but not optimal for a majority of semiconductor packaging applications. The shift to this lower-cost and high-volume compatible plastic package technology represents a 90% reduction in cost and enables several thousands to tens of thousands of devices per batch.