The provider of semiconductor, LED and electronic assembly solutions, Kulicke & Soffa (NASDAQ: KLIC) partners PDF Solutions (NASDAQ: PDFS), a provider of comprehensive cloud analytics platform. The two companies have come together to address the challenges of production system control and variability reduction in semiconductor assembly and packaging.
As innovative packaging and assembly technologies have become the need of the hour for companies to bring their new products to the market, it is essential to apply smart manufacturing methods to identify the root cause of packaging and assembly issues that impact product yield, quality, and cost.
Advanced packaging methodologies like System-in-Package and multi-chip modules though provide performance, power, and cost improvement. However, shifting from a transistor focus to a packaging and assembly focus brings its own set of engineering challenges. Kulicke & Soffa and PDF Solutions new collaboration looks at combining assembly Fault Detection and Classification (FDC) data, collected by real-time process monitoring K&S RPM data-enabled tools, with AI and ML capabilities from PDF Solutions’ Exensio platform.
Together, these technologies are designed to enable insights to directly enhance advanced assembly issue dispositioning and containment, driving yield and efficiency gains for customers. The partnership will also help address the ongoing chip shortage, while also identify out-of-control process and equipment issues before they result in downtime. It will help enhance system throughput and deliver more chips to market from existing manufacturing capacity.
“It is Kulicke & Soffa’s mission to be our customer’s ally in technological discovery, accelerated via strategic partnerships across the value chain,” said Shawn Sarbacker, Vice President and Head of Ball Bonder Business Unit at K&S. “The extension of our partnership with PDF Solutions immediately increases the breadth and value of our data-enabled equipment offerings, including RPM, to address the growing enterprise challenges faced by our customers across our broadening end-markets.”
“Through our Cimetrix equipment connectivity solutions and Exensio Assembly Operations (formerly ALPS), K&S and PDF have been delivering advanced analytics to mutual customers for over a decade,” said Bill Lee, Head of Global Corporate Partnerships at PDF Solutions. “Moving forward, our partnership will encompass additional Exensio products and includes full support for the SEMI E142 standard. By integrating the analytics and E142 traceability capabilities of Exensio with K&S FDC, customers will be able to seamlessly connect their test results to back-end manufacturing. We expect this collaboration to benefit OSATs and chip companies by accelerating root-cause analysis, and providing data-driven insights across the assembly and packaging process that can identify the best combination of performance, quality, and cost for our customers.”
K&S and PDF Solutions will support early adopters through an Early Access Program. Contact your local K&S or PDF Solutions sales representative for more details.
