Nippon Steel Material Company Limited and Nippon Micrometal Corporation signed a patent licensing agreement with Tanaka Denshi Kogyo KK a leading bonding wire manufacturer for a new type single layer palladium coated copper bonding wire which is used for LSI packaging. This wire features significant reduction of gold greatly reduced precious metal usage and lower manufacturing costs.
For over the past 50 years in the semiconductor packaging industry, gold an expensive precious metal has always been used for bonding wire, which is a fine metal wire that connects a silicon integrated circuit to peripheral electrodes such as the lead frame. All previous attempts to substitute copper for gold have failed in LSI applications because of problems involving connecting strength and reliability. The new copper bonding wire patents of which have been licensed, was invented by Nippon Steel Corporation and developed to mass production level by NMC is the first copper bonding wire in the world that has been successful in practical use including use in state of the art, ultra high density LSI packaging.
EX1 has solved all the longstanding problems of copper wire in regard to connecting strength and reliability through its unique structure EX1, which is 1/5 the price of gold wire, has already delivered the quality performance demanded for even the most advanced LSI packaging. In addition, EX1 has excellent electrical conductivity that is 20% better than gold wire which reduces electricity losses.
Since the start of mass-production in 2009, EX1 has been adopted as replacement for gold wire on a wide scale by the worlds leading companies, including Taiwanese companies, and it has rapidly been penetrating the global bonding wire market.EX1 has attained more than 80% of the new, skyrocketing global copper bonding wire market and it is now the industry standard.
Nippon Steel Group has applied for a total of more than 80 patents in various countries around the world concerning the major technologies for the new-type copper bonding wire product group, including EX1, and many of them have already been registered. The Group owns almost all the registered patents for currently commercially viable new type copper bonding wire, and the number of patents it holds is rapidly increasing. This time, several patents related to the single layer palladium coated EX1 have been licensed to Tanaka Denshi Kogyo. This is the first time for EX1 to be licensed to a competing bonding wire manufacturer. The license agreement ensures a smooth supply and application of the new-type copper bonding wire to the global packaging market, and further market growth of EX1 quality copper bonding wire is anticipated. To protect the soundness of the new market created by this innovative new technology originating from Japan, Nippon Steel Group will take decisive action against patent infringement.
NMC has already increased its production capacity of new-type copper bonding wire in Japan and the Philippines from 150,000 to 250,000 kilo meters per month to meet the growing global market demand. NMC is planning to increase production capacity to satisfy the increasing demand, and it is simultaneously strengthening the development of a new product that meets new customer needs. The new product EX1p: EX1-plus which has been developed by further improving on the single layer palladium coated EX1,has improved connection performance and delivers higher speed bonding and more stable quality. The patents for EX1p are not included in the current licensing agreement.
NSMAT and NMC will present a more advanced bonding wire for LSI packaging in the near future in collaboration with the Advanced Technology Research Laboratories of NSC.
