Protec, a manufacturer of fab equipment, gets approval to sell laser bunders to more customers

Protec, a fab-equipment maker, expects its sales to expand as a contract limiting sales of its laser-assisted bonding machines (LAB) expired last month, TheElec has learned.

LAB is used to attach the chip tube core to the circuit board during the use of laser packaging.

Most chip tubes are attached to the circuit board using infrared reflow machines, which act like ovens, and the circuit board carrying the tube core is heated by a belt passing through them.

Chip tube cores and circuit boards are exposed to high temperatures for five to seven minutes, sometimes causing warping or non-wetting, or not properly bonded. For advanced chips that use thin packaging boards, the problem becomes even worse.

However, LAB solved this problem by using a laser to glue the bare chip to the circuit board in just one to two seconds.

Protec has been working with an outsourced semiconductor assembly and testing company based in the United States to develop the LAB for several years.

However, the two signed a contract restricting the sale of LAB to certain customers.

Sources said chip giant TSMC and other OSAT companies had sought to buy equipment from Protec but were unable to do so.

As a result, TSMC bought two similar machines made by Lasersel, a South Korean laser company, and has not bought them since.

The contract expired in mid-May, the sources said, meaning Protec can now sell to customers such as TSMC or Apple, which have also shown strong interest in the technology.

As of last year, LAB accounted for about 5 percent of Protec's annual revenue.

A spokesperson for Protec said that in the long term, it aims to increase this to more than 30%.

Source: Laser Network