Taiwan has been moving full speed ahead since the onset of the Covid crisis. Locked down to the outside world, the government internally implemented strong measures that have allowed the country to forge ahead while keeping the crisis at bay.

Semicon Taiwan 2022, held this month, was an excellent gauge of where the Taiwanese industry is and where it is going. Thousands of engineers, technologists, technicians, and suppliers crowded the halls at the Nangang Exhibition Center in Taipei.?

Following Covid, many manufacturers accelerated production to keep up with demand from around the world. Taiwan is widely expected to remain the world’s leading market for chip making equipment for both front and back end through 2024—even as global sales hit another record. Packaging will expand along with this.

An expanding industry

The industry is expanding at a rate never before seen. Wafer and package complexity and diversity to meet unique applications has provided the industry with an expanding range of choices in technology. Technology for fan-out and fan-in design was also featured on many stands. One of the themes of the show was, “Beyond and More than Moore.”

To achieve the goals of higher densities, faster speeds, and higher reliability, redistribution layers and copper pillars are gaining wider acceptance. Companies, such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and Intel, have been expanding in-house high-technology packaging facilities to keep up with these trends.

In the EV and power electronics space, 1,000 V+/500+ amp applications now require copper-to-copper interconnection, which is achieved at 1000oC+ temperatures—a world apart from conventional interconnect technology.

In every one of these cases, the supply base must work more closely with their customers to meet technological demands as they arise.

Critical shortages remain a concern

Taiwan is experiencing the same problems we are seeing all over the world: critical shortages of engineers and technicians to maintain and improve ever more complex systems and processes within ever more precise parameters. As the industry approaches the current 2-nm threshold, not only is near perfection required but also reductions in direct labor. Automation was one of the central takeaways from this year’s Semicon Taiwan.

“Lights Out” manufacturing has become the norm. Remote, real-time monitoring and process control and “green” manufacturing, which sometime conflict with process necessities, have all become standard operations wherever possible. Even simple processes, such as curing and baking, have become fully automated. Automatic handling of wafers down to 100 microns thick is another challenge accepted by many equipment suppliers.

Supply chain issues have also challenged the industry. While much has focused on mainland China, in the semiconductor sector this is much more complex. Specialty gases come from one part of the world while critical additives and materials may come from two or three other continents—all of which must arrive at the same place at the same time and then be shipped somewhere else across the planet. “Match Set” has slowed down the delivery of everything, from raw chemicals to automobiles, as the world found out during the crisis.

Semicon Taiwan 2022 has shown a path forward in solving some of the most complex issues facing the industry over the next several years. As the industry moves from virtual to hybrid to in person, face-to-face discussions, education, “kicking the tires”, and evaluating process and equipment will ensure that expositions and trade shows are an absolute necessity to the creative and production processes.

By: DocMemory
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