Category: Semiconductor Manufacturing

Since the first developments of electrically powered technology in the mid-1800s, engineers, scientists, and manufacturers have created a diverse, multifaceted industry that fabricates millions of devices for a broad variety of purposes. Today’s massive demand for more and more intelligent designs and sustainable solutions functions in tandem with internationally standardized regulations in the industry. Not only are manufacturing practices and production facilities required to meet these industrial standards, but also the parts and assemblies themselves are standardized. This regimenting of basic components is beneficial to all manufacturing industries, not just electronics devices, and it’s created a production and distribution system that supports the work of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and contract manufacturers like us. MultiSource Manufacturing LLC provides semiconductor parts production and electromechanical assembly operations for several electronic device industries, including medical, defense, aerospace, and more.

Semiconductor

A critical part of the semiconductor and electronics production process is the fabrication and assembly of electrical packaging. Building the integrated circuit packaging used to encapsulate and work with the semiconductor microchip is another standardized process. We build high-quality packages that fit multiple current standards depending on the semiconductor and the application of the entire kit.

Earliest Circuit Packages

The earliest circuit packages were built in the 1960s. The first package was built in 1962 by Y. Tao, and it was the first version of ceramic flat packs, a packaging format that the U.S. military would use for several years. These ceramic packages are small and reliable designs.

The first integrated circuit package was developed in the 1970s. These designs also used ceramic as the main package material with all of the circuit leads along the same side of the chip. The first plastic package designs were dual in-line packages (DIP) that were developed in the late 1970s.

Pin Grid Arrays

By the 1980s, chips needed to grow to meet larger, smarter, and more intricate device specifications. This demand led to pin grid arrays (PGAs) and leadless chip carriers, in addition to surface mount packaging. These surface mount designs could take up to 30-50% less surface space with about 70% less thickness than DIP packages.

Area Array Packages

In the early 1990s, the area array package was the next significant design development. This led to the popularizing of the ball grid array (BGA) and other array packaging techniques. Next, the plastic quad flat pack and thin small outline packages replaced PGAs for most devices.

From PGA to Land Grid

Industry leaders moved from PGA packages to land grid arrays in the 2000s, but most microprocessors still use PGA designs. BGA packages also grew into flip-chip ball grid arrays (FCBGA) that inverted the mounting of the die.

There have been several other recent packaging developments over the last 10 years, such as System in Package (SiP) and multi-chip modules (MCMs). MultiSource Manufacturing is capable of producing several types of packages with varying formats and materials.

Semiconductor Components

To learn more about our work with semiconductor components, contact us at (952) 456-5500. You can also request more information or request a quote to get started with us today.

For more than 35 years, MultiSource Manufacturing LLC has worked to build semiconductor components and systems. Today, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and other customers rely on the precision and quality of our certified semiconductor fabrication. Thanks to our multiple facilities, we are able to offer a complete semiconductor production line, including a Class 1000 clean room, in-house electric, PFA welding and fabrication, and reverse engineering processes. Our team of engineers and technicians is comprised of trusted industry leaders in the manufacturing of full semiconductor assemblies, including the design and build of complex, state-of-the-art packages that fit a broad range of functional applications. If you are in need of semiconductor components or fully packaged assemblies, you can rely on MultiSource for fabrication from the prototyping to the inspection process.

Manufacturing Materials

When it comes to packaging semiconductor components for long-term protection and control of external factors, we implement various materials into that enclosure. We are capable of manufacturing with polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), chlorinated polyvinyl chloride (CPVC), perfluoroalkoxy alkane (PFA), and other thermoplastics that are key in integrated circuit packaging.

For all our integrated circuit packaging designs, we consider four functional factors that the semiconductor system will face in an operating setting. The design factors include:

Electrical:

Characteristics of the semiconductor and electrical requirements can be controlled through the packaging. Integrated circuit packages can help regulate resistance, capacitance, inductance, and other properties of the semiconductor components and surrounding electronics with specific designs. Packages can also eliminate the risk of parasitic elements that can damage semiconductor signals.

Climate:

Packages must also be able to protect the semiconductor components from climate conditions outside the acceptable range. This includes protection from excess heat, moisture, dust, electromagnetics, and other elements. We design semiconductor packages to provide precise heat dissipation from the chip.

Mechanical:

Physical stress will also be a factor for semiconductors in operation. Packages need to be able to protect the chip from mechanical factors like jolts, bends, vibrations, and resonance.

Cost:

We work with carefully selected materials, precise clean room conditions, and high-powered technology to build semiconductor components. Our goal is to provide the best quality products at affordable prices. For all our packages, we choose the best quality polymers at a reasonable cost to our customers.

Integrated circuit packaging is a necessary part of a semiconductor assembly. The design, materials, and functionality of every package should be considered as important as the semiconductor components themselves.

For more information about our work in the semiconductor industry, contact MultiSource Manufacturing LLC at (952) 456-5500. You can also request more information or request a quote to get started with us today.

MultiSource Manufacturing LLC has been fabricating semiconductor parts and full semiconductor assemblies for over 35 years. Our facilities have state-of-the-art equipment specialized for semiconductor component machining, and our engineers and technicians have the expertise to handle any industry-specific production requirements. When it comes to semiconductor manufacturing, we are an industry-leading provider of optimized parts and assemblies. With a Class 1 clean room, plastic fabrication and welding capabilities, and comprehensive tear down reverse engineering of various semiconductor components for OEMs and other customers, MultiSource has the skills and tools needed to get the job done.

MultiSource provides contract manufacturing services to a broad range of industries. Our collection of multi-axis machining centers, mills, lathes, and additional equipment with our staff experience and training makes our production floor one of the best for many projects, from prototype design to finishing touches.

For the semiconductor industry, our PFA fabrication and reverse engineering capabilities, as well as our state-of-the-art clean room, allow us to build parts and assemblies that require highly specialized fabrication techniques.

PFA Fabrication and Welding:

Fluoroplastics are utilized heavily in semiconductor part manufacturing. PFAs and other fluoroplastics have high working temperatures, non-stick properties, high resistance to chemicals, solvents, and electrical currents, and low friction surfaces. With PFA welding and other fabrication capabilities, we can create innovative solutions for housing circuit boards, microchips, and other semiconductor components.

Class 1000 Clean Room:

Semiconductor parts need to be fabricated in highly clean, contaminant-free environments. With our ISO Class 3 clean room, we work with a directed recirculating airflow that passes through heavily-filtered quarantining systems. Fabrication technicians wear full hazmat PPE and handle semiconductor materials with strict hygiene protocols. Our clean room and sanitary manufacturing practices ensure a quality product.

Reverse Engineering:

For years now, reverse engineering has been an accepted manufacturing practice in many industries. For the electronics and semiconductor industries, reverse engineering is recognized as an effective method of competitive intelligence. Our engineers have extensive education and experience for reverse engineering and improving designs of semiconductor components, from standardized industrial parts to unique formats of electronic gridding.

Our goal in all our semiconductor parts and assemblies is to optimize designs as we machine, fabricate, clean, test, package, and custom-crate each product. From microchip reticle handling and wet processing to plastic and steel manufacturing, we have virtually unlimited resources and capabilities for building parts and assemblies in the semiconductor industry.

To learn more about our fabrication of semiconductor components, contact MultiSource Manufacturing LLC at (952) 456-5500. Request more information, or request a quote to get started with us today.

As a contract manufacturer, we work to provide components and full assemblies to OEMs and other customers in a broad range of industries. From aerospace and defense parts to medical devices, our expert technicians, skilled engineers, and overall staff are dedicated to supporting quality and precision in all of our products and services.

 

One of the primary industries we serve are the fabricators of semiconductor components and assemblies. The parts we make at MultiSource Manufacturing LLC for the semiconductor components industry play integral roles in key production processes including microchip reticle handling with state-of-the-art steppers.

 

“Stepper” is a broad term for a processing system that moves reticles and wafers through the photo-engineering treatment. Similar to the development of film photographs, the photo-engineering process uses light application and chemical exposure to generate a semiconductor microchip. General stepper components include:

 

• Wafer loader and stage: These components are the initial stage of a stepper system. This stage loads a photoresist-coated silicon wafer into the lower front of the stepper. An automated system then moves the wafer into the alignment stage, readying it for exposure.
• Reticle loader and stage: A quartz reticle with an etched chrome pattern is entered into the stepper via reticle loader. It is then staged in alignment for exposure to multiple wafers with periodic realignment.
• Reticle alignment system: Precise automated alignment of the reticle is vital for effective wafer exposure in microchip processing. As the wafer is developed in alignment with the reticle it is moved on x and y axes. Multiple alignments are necessary for exact printing of circuitry onto the wafer.
• Illumination system: Once the alignment and printing processes are complete, the wafer is exposed to the illumination system. The illumination system uses a reduction lens with a pre-programmed exposure time and stepping movement to generate grid pattern.
• Chemical wash: When the illumination process is complete, the wafer is transferred to a chemical wash stage. This wash removes areas of the wafer that are not covered by photoresist, completing the microchip wafer development.

 

A wafer stepper system is a key tool in the development of semiconductor silicon wafers with high resolution and quality results in mass production. The fabrication of microchip reticle handling equipment like steppers is one of the many services the MultiSource network provides to the semiconductor industry. If you’re developing microchip wafers and fabricating other semiconductor components, contact MultiSource Manufacturing LLC at (952) 456-5500. Request more information or request a quote to get started with us today.

When it comes to electronics manufacturing, extreme precision is needed to build a reliable, high-quality product. Printed circuit boards, electromechanical components, semiconductors, and any other part that goes into a full electronic assembly demands an exacting, well-tested design.

 

For over 35 years, MultiSource Manufacturing LLC has provided that level of precision in our electronics manufacturing, using reverse engineering to structure informed, pre-dissected design specifications. Our team of knowledgeable, experienced engineers applies reverse engineering techniques to the design of semiconductor components and other electromechanical parts and assemblies.

 

Reverse engineering provides a valuable analytical resource to our design technicians and engineers for a range of applications. By taking apart the physical parts of a component as well as the data of use and the theory of function, engineers are able to work backwards from a final part or assembly to reverse the design and start from the beginning with a usable analysis.

 

For semiconductor component design, reverse engineering gives our engineers a way to work backward from an existing design that fits a specific application and adjust certain aspects of it if needed, overall continually improving the component as a whole.

 

Using reverse engineering to take apart the parts of a semiconductor component or full assembly gives our engineers the information they need for design improvement, including:

 

• theory in the design of parts and their operation
• materials used and how they react to long-term use
• overall structure of interior and exterior
• manufacturing process
• assembly order of operations
• how an assembly reacts to stresses in operation, both expected and unusual
• any other information that adds to our engineering database about the form and function of a part and a full assembly

 

With reverse engineering providing this information, our design team has several benefits to work with. First, they can save time in the engineering process because they are able to pull from a wealth of data gathered from the analysis of a part. This in turn saves costs of building unnecessary prototypes.

 

Secondly, our engineers can build higher quality parts with a range of improvements made to every aspect of the full assembly. This often eliminates time, energy, and resources spent on testing and inspections during final quality control processes. With a better product made more efficiently and quickly, our electronics engineers can improve your production schedule by improving our own.

 

To learn more about the reverse engineering processes we use to improve our electronics manufacturing services, contact MultiSource Manufacturing LLC today at  (952) 456-5500, request a quote online, or request more information.

With the right equipment, skill, knowledge, and management, a manufacturing company can create any quality custom part. With our six locations across the Upper Midwest, MultiSource Manufacturing, LLC works with a comprehensive network of facilities capable of full design, production, and assembly for advanced custom manufacturing services. We offer production operations from CAD/CAM prototyping to in-house finishing, in addition to covering everything in between. One aspect of our network that sets MultiSource apart from others working in electronic assembly, machine automation, and the custom manufacturing industry is our reverse engineering and plastic fabrication.

Our capabilities in plastic fabrication are a key component to a number of the industries we serve, including the production of semiconductor components and assemblies. In fact, MultiSource is one of the only contract manufacturers in the area to provide semiconductor production services including reverse engineering, PFA fabrication and welding, in-house electric, and a Class 1000 clean room.

Plastic fabrication and the utilization of reverse engineering are key to building high-quality semiconductors that are successful and long-lasting when they’re put up against the speed and power utilized in today’s electronics. With our state-of-the-art facilities and reverse engineering applications, MultiSource is able to provide fully-reliable customizable manufacturing for semiconductors.

Reverse Engineering

MultiSource works with advanced CAD/CAM software and CNC automation. This technology, in addition to our network’s experience, knowledge, and skill, allows our engineering team to effectively reverse engineer semiconductor designs and strategically implement the fabrication of those specifications.

Plastic Fabrication

Our network of facilities works routinely with a wide range of industrial-grade metals, but we’re also experts in plastic fabrication, plastic welding, plastic forming, and plastic bending for polypropylene, PVC, CPVA, PFA, and additional thermo plastics. When it comes to semiconductor manufacturing, high quality plastics offer protection against severe ESD in repetition, improved purity in parts, limited wear-related shutdowns, consistency in production, and ease in assembly and external integration. Overall, our plastic fabrication capabilities continually support and improve the manufacturing of standard and custom semiconductors.

This optimization of design and production for semiconductors using both reverse engineering and plastic fabrication includes microchip reticule purge libraries and handling equipment, wet processing, and wafer and device handling system components. In addition to our machining, fabrication, and quality testing of semiconductor components, MultiSource offers custom-crating that protects your parts in shipment from the start of a new design to your own production floor.

To learn more about the custom manufacturing services we provide for semiconductor components and all our capabilities for plastic fabrication, request more information or a quote today.