When evaluating the long -term supply risk brought by the selection of products, we must realize that the original component manufacturer(OCM) The part number information provided by it is far more than the content of the material list (BOM) health report provided by the commercial tools.
If you think of the chip as a completeThe puzzle painting, this puzzle painting is composed of many small blocks. Each small block is crucial. Once a problem occurs, it may cause the entire product to be outdated.These blocks are diverse, covering various sub -parts from business income to semiconductor products, such as foundry technology, packaging methods, substrates or lead frameworks, testing platforms and design resources.
In addition, theseThe layout also includes the overall strategic direction or market focus of the semiconductor company.Over time, the market focus of the semiconductor company may change, but those system companies that cooperate for a long time (such as customers) may not be easily changed.Therefore, when evaluating the long -term supply risk brought by the selection of products, we must realize that the part number information provided by the original component manufacturer (OCM) is far more than the list of materials (BOM) provided by the commercial tools (BOM)The content of the health report can involve.
How to manufacture the supply chain affects the long -term availability of the product?
Most traditional semiconductor products are encapsulated in the lead framework, such asDIP, PLCC, QFP and PGA.Today's semiconductor market no longer packs the lead framework as the main output driving factor, but has gradually turned to the substrate -based assembly method.
The reason why the industry gradually abandons the lead framework of the lead
To deeply understand the reason for the disappearance of the lead frame component, we need to conduct a comprehensive inspection from the historical, profit margins of the assembly base, changes in profit margins, and industry development trends.
alreadyIn the 1980s, the trend of offshore outsourcing had quietly emerged.At that time, TSMC had not yet emerged in the semiconductor industry with excellent foundry technology.Overseas assembly is mainly driven by cost factors, and it is also affected by environmental restrictions, because the assembly process at that time was not as clean as it is now.With the increasing competition in the industry, many leading framework suppliers have gradually been eliminated in competition. Only those largest suppliers can barely maintain profits.Today, the profit margin of the lead frame has fallen to individual digits, while most of the profit margins of most semiconductor companies are close to 50%.
In the 1990s and early 21st century, under the promotion of high -speed IO (input/output) and BGA (welded ball array packaging) assembly, the output of the lead frame component reached its historical peak.However, with the succession of high-speed IO standards (such as PCI-E, Multi-Gigabit Ethernet, SATA, SAS, etc.), everyone found that the traditional leading technology has become a key factor in restricting the performance of device-high-speed IO standards and other otherThe new standards have set a clear performance roadmap, but it is difficult to meet these performance requirements.
At the same time, as the speed of the device has increased significantly, the power consumption is increasing accordingly.The lead bond combines the power from the outer part of the chip to the core, but forFor high -performance products that have been popularized in the 1990s, only power supply from the outer chip cannot meet increasing power demand.
In order to solve this problem, inverted chips andBGA packaging substrates came into being. These technologies have eliminated the dependence on the lead key to the core by directly power supply to the core, thereby effectively alleviating the challenge of power distribution.This solution not only improves the efficiency of power transmission, but also achieves better signal integrity, enabling the device to meet the requirements of the standard of high -speed Serdes (serials/unlocking device).
EnterAt the beginning of the 21st century, as the output of the lead frame component gradually decreased, a new type of low -footing package -QFN packaging began to emerge.QFN packaging is a substrate -based assembly method. The chip is connected to the lead using the lead technology.The emergence of this packaging method marks that semiconductor packaging technology is developing in a more efficient and advanced direction.
To this day, the output of substrate components has far exceeded the lead frame component.Earlier, the trimming and molding tools were the largest lead framework processing equipment for the cost of packaging plant.With the reduction of the output of the leading framework component, the assembly method of substrate -based assembly becomes the mainstream.The packaging factory is converted from the lead framework to the substrate assembly. It needs to be replaced with trimming and molding tools. Their profit margin is only one digit. The profitability is difficult to support it to completely abandon the lead frame component.
The reason why the industry chooses to abandon the lead frame component is that the technical performance requires the zero -line key, and the cost of the leading framework component that continues to produce low output is too high.This is not only due to economic factors, but also an inevitable result of technological progress.
Once the assembly plan is determined, the test plan must be adjusted closely.We must closely pay close attention to the similar development trends in testing technology to ensure that the transition to the substrate assembly test is stable.If there are problems with uninterrupted connection in the substrate assembly test, it may lead to the emergence of technical backwardness.At present, the latest production testing equipment on the market mainly serves the assembly of substrate -based assembly, and all measures that are designed to reduce batch production costs also mainly focus on substrate components.
But it is worth noting that as the output gradually decreases,OSAT (outsourcing semiconductor packaging and testing) factory has increasing challenges when testing for small batch production.Especially in those products based on the lead frame, this challenge is particularly obvious.
Only acquireOSAT supply chain cannot meet the long -term needs of customers
In the case of sufficient wafer supply, if a company only acquires existing existingOSAT supply chain to provide customers with the same semiconductor products. Can this situation continue for a long time?
Rochester Electronics believes that this plan is only a short -term expedient.Looking back on the previous articleBased, it contains all links from the lead frame, assembly to testing.In the OSAT supply chain, once a certain link seems to be economical, then this link is likely to be eliminated.This is because any company that supports OSAT supply chain management cannot promote the large -scale production of the product, which increases the risk of overdue technology.Therefore, OSAT manufacturers cannot use the same level of product continuity like the original component manufacturer (OCM).In the short term, OSAT supply chain management may be able to maintain product production, but in the long run, this approach is not sustainable.
Cooperation with authorized semiconductor manufacturers can effectively reduce the risks caused by outdated components or discontinue production.When a certain component is discontinued, the manufacturer obtained by the permission can continue to produce these no longer.OCM supply device.At this time, OCM will transfer the remaining wafers, naked cores, assembly processes, and original test intellectual property (IP) to authorized manufacturers.This means that even the components that have been discontinued before can now be re -manufactured, and they fully meet the original specifications.What's more convenient is that this cooperation method does not need to perform additional qualification certification or software changes, which greatly simplifies the production process.
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