Demand for flip-chips is on the rise, thanks primarily to the industry's continued drive toward devices with increased functionality (and higher density). Flip-chips haven't changed much since being invented by IBM in the '60s, but now several notable flip-chip trends are emerging and other potential changes are on the horizon. For more details and to get a glimpse of how Gartner's Jim Walker sees the flip-chip market shaping up for 2008, check out 'Flip-Chip Changes on the Horizon' under Editor's Picks. You can also find more advanced packaging news and events by visiting our Semiconductor Packaging Technology Channel:

Sally Cole Johnson, Contributing Editor
scolejohnson@mac.com

Carsem's Copper Wire Bonding Program in Full Production
Prime Newswire, 7/1/2008

Carsem announced that it has been shipping production volumes of a variety of packages using copper wire bonds. Carsem has qualified a number of customers in a variety of packages and metallization types using its new copper wire bond process. More

EV Group Named Among VLSI Research's 10 Best Suppliers
PR Newswire, 7/1/2008

EV Group (EVG) said it has been ranked as one of the world's 10 best small suppliers of wafer processing equipment by VLSI Research Inc. More

SUSS MicroTec Leads Ranking of Material Handling Suppliers
Business Wire, 7/1/2008

SUSS MicroTec has again been ranked among the best suppliers in the 2008 VLSI Research Customer Satisfaction Awards. Customers rated SUSS MicroTec first among the Material Handling Suppliers and fifth among Small Suppliers of Wafer Processing, as well as eighth among Focused Supplier of Chip Making Equipment. More

Tessera Licenses OptiML Technology to Samsung
Business Wire, 6/30/2008

Tessera Technologies Inc. has licensed its OptiML Focus image-enhancement solution to Samsung Electronics. More

Amkor to Introduce Flip-Chip Technology at SEMICON West
Business Wire, 6/30/2008

Amkor Technology Inc. plans to introduce a new flip-chip packaging technology that uses an advanced molding process technology that is expected to provide a number of design, cost and performance advantages for field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), CPUs, graphics processors and ASICs that are widely used in embedded processing applications such as PCs, servers, switches and personal gaming machines. More

Samsung to Build New Assembly Plant in Philippines
ComputerWire, 6/24/2008

Samsung Electronics plans to invest $1B in a 30-hectare microchip plant in the Philippines. Construction of the plant will start within a year. The plant, which will be located at the Clark Special Economic Zone, ends almost a year of intense negotiations with the Philippine government. Negotiations began last year after Texas Instruments also announced plans for a $1B plant in Clark. More

Semitool Books Order for Six Raider Tools to Memory Manufacturer
Market Wire, 6/26/2008

Semitool has received orders for six advanced wafer-level packaging Raider tools that will be used for electroplating, metal etch and photoresist stripping. The tools are scheduled for delivery in September to a major IDM facility and packaging foundry, both in Korea. The tools will be used for advanced bumping, copper pillar, under-bump metallization etch and resist strip applications, as well as plating of specialty chip interconnect metals used in 3-D through-silicon via applications. More

New Process Creates 3-D Nanostructures With Magnetic Materials
States News Service, 6/24/2008

Materials scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a process to build complex 3-D nanoscale structures of magnetic materials, such as nickel or nickel-iron alloys, using techniques compatible with standard semiconductor manufacturing. More