RED Micro Wire announces breakthrough technology for semiconductor bonding wire

SINGAPORE: RED Micro Wire (RMW), a subsidiary of RED Equipment, announced new high-quality copper wire featuring glass insulation for use in semiconductor wire bonding. Using a breakthrough technology in micro wire production, the wire can be used like traditional copper bonding wire but offers several advantages that make it more cost-effective.

“OSAT suppliers, IDMs, wafer companies, and fabless semiconductor companies will find RMW’s solution to be a highly reliable alternative to using gold wire, which until now has been known as the standard,” said Shimon Dahan, CEO, RED Micro Wire. “By providing cost-effective, low diameter, insulated micro wire that is as ‘good as gold,’ we can help our OEM customers keep up with Moore’s law as they prepare their own designs for the future.”

Unlike traditional wires, RMW’s wires are cast, not drawn. This enables the production of a soft metal core with a high strength, ultra-fine glass coating. RMW’s innovative control-over-core and glass coating enables unmatched synergetic efficiency.

“Advanced packaging technology is recognized as an essential ingredient in delivering cost-effective semiconductor solutions to a variety of electronic applications today. Manufacturers are challenged in adopting new technologies for wire bonding,” said Joanne Itow, analyst, Semico Research Corp. “If RED Micro Wire can show cost-efficiencies in addition to their ability to deliver scalability, quality and yield as compared to current packaging technology, the industry should be very excited by the company’s glass-insulated bonding wire.”

Red Micro Wire offers a number of benefits including:
* Eliminates anti-oxidation issues, enabling a longer shelf life.
* Able to support larger spools, enabling simpler materials management.
* Protects against “shorts” since the wire is coated and cannot make contact.
* Able to scale down to 4 microns - far smaller than the 14-16 micron minimum of other wire solutions, enabling it to support designs of the future and the overall scalability of the industry.
* Flexibility in design - relaxed design rules due to no exposed wire.

RMW will begin to sample the technology with OEM customers in March 2012 with full production by the end of the year. RMW research and development is done in Israel and manufacturing is planned to be at RED premises in Singapore, providing the best proximity to major Asia Pacific assembly and packaging vendors (to be RMW customers).