Wafer Level Packaging Scales Favorably with the Trend to Manufacture on Ever Increasing Wafer Diameters

Montreal, Canada, February 21, 2008 --(PR.com)-- Electronics.ca Publications, the electronics industry market research and knowledge network, announces the availability of a new report entitled "WLP & Embedded Die Technologies 2008".

Due to the amazing learning curve of the semiconductor industry in terms of chip density versus cost improvements over time, there is a widening gap between the scaling evolutions of the chip front-end and the packaging-assembly manufacturing industries. Wafer level packaging (WLP) is all about filling that gap: by making the packaging and assembly steps a whole collective wafer level process, packaging has now the potential to scale with the cost and size evolutions of most stringent semiconductor applications.

WLP is a breakthrough packaging technology that is widespread even into the most cost sensitive applications. It will scale favorably with the trend to manufacture on ever increasing wafer diameters.

While it is said to be difficult to estimate what is the real status of volume production for WLP, this new packaging report available at Electronics.ca Publications aims at giving clues for understanding the technologies, trends and market status of WLP in Semiconductor ICs, CMOS imagers and MEMS applications.

For CMOS imagers, for instance, WLP is already an industrial reality. Today, about 35% of CMOS imagers to be found into latest consumer cell-phone and notebook cameras are encapsulated in a WL-CSP. According to the report, it is forecast the technology could penetrate about 63% of this market as of 2012 as it will progressively widespread from CIF/VGAs to higher resolution image sensors.

Moreover, semiconductors integrated circuits represent the largest potential for WLP. WLP technology is now expected to grow from 2.5% of the mainstream IC with about 6 billions of units up to 4% by 2012.

This report gives a precise description of key technologies for WLP manufacturing, market drivers and materials selection for WLP applications. It provides critical information about the structure of WLP & Embedded Components industry and its evolution. The analysis of current applications will help devices manufacturers see potentials for future businesses (from MEMS, CMOS image sensor to Semiconductor IC applications).

Details of the new report can be found on Electronics.ca Publications' web site: http://www.electronics.ca/reports/semiconductor_manufacturing/wlp.html

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