Even Amkor is surprised by MicroLeadFrame ramp up in cell phones
By Jack Robertson
Semiconductor Business News
(10/05/99, 11:17:05 AM EDT)
PHOENIX --The production of a new MicroLeadFrame (MLF) chip package for cellular telephone handsets has reached 4 million units a month in just three months after initial production began at Amkor Technology Inc. According to Amkor, the production ramp up of the MLF package is the fastest ever at the contract supplier of chip assembly and testing services.
Expanded production will bring the MLF package output to 4 million units a week by January and to 10 million a week by the end of 2000, said Terry Davis, product manager at Amkor.
The MicroLeadFrame is a miniature derivative of popular lead frame packages, using much of the same assembly equipment. However, the MLF has a similar tiny footprint as chip scale packages (CSP) but at half the cost, Davis said.
The new package eliminates leads coming out the side and has all connections at the bottom of the chip. Assembly costs are further cut because a matrix of up to 1,000 chips can be attached to a single large lead frame for wire bonding and molding, according to Amkor. Chips are then "punched" out of the lead frame for final assembly and test.
Davis said MLF is an ideal miniature package for chips with up to 52 leads. Ball grid array and other CSP packages are needed for chips with much larger pin counts, he explained.
But MLF has found immediate acceptance in the cell phone market, because of its low cost and small size. In addition, eliminating the conventional side leads has reduced the inductance of the chip, allowing for much higher frequency operation in the giaghertz range of new PCS digital phone networks.
Amkor's Anam Semiconductor Korean affiliate currently assembles the MLF chips in its K1 plant, located in Seoul. Amkor plans to expand MLF production to its Philippines operations starting in January, Davis said.
He added that Amkor has never ramped up a new product so quickly. "Usually it takes almost two years before a new item reaches the production level of 1 million units a month," Davis noted. "MLF achieved 2 million units in only its second month of production, and is now running at 4 million units a month."
Although the immediate market response has come from cell phone OEMs, Amkor officials believe the new miniature chip package has wide application in handheld computers, PDAs, and a wide variety of handsets using the new Bluetooth wireless connectivity standard.
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