Microbonds, Tanaka Ally on X-Wire
Online staff -- EDN, July 20, 2005
Augmenting the X-Wire alliance it formed with ASM Pacific Technology Ltd. earlier this month, Microbonds Inc. has allied with Tokyo’s Tanaka Denshi Kogyo K.K. to launch a line of insulated gold bonding wires that address the significant interconnect bottlenecks choking the semiconductor industry.
Using Microbonds proprietary X-Wire technology and Tanaka's leading gold bond wires, the pair targets complex manufacturing applications, including area array wire bonding, stacked die and rapid prototyping.
"Tanaka is delighted to work with Microbonds to introduce this exciting new development in wire bonding technology, which we believe will significantly extend and expand the dominance of the wire bond industry," said Shinji Shirakawa, general manager, technical development division of Tanaka, in a statement.
He continued: "The X-Wire technology leverages existing dominant wire-bonding infrastructure and expertise, and can be integrated with minimal disruption; yet the unique, insulated approach permits wires to touch and cross, enabling significant increases in interconnect densities for a wide array of new chip and package designs. For users, this technology is easy to use and delivers powerful benefits such as yield improvements, performance enhancements and cost savings."
Craig Geier, president and CEO of Microbonds, touted Tanaka’s reputation in the semiconductor industry.
"We are honored that Tanaka has agreed to align their research, development, production and distribution capabilities with Microbonds to create a next-generation solution that provides customers benefits above and beyond today's standard bare wire and bump-based interconnect technologies," he said.
The companies are expected to launch the commercial availability of Tanaka X-Wire by Q3. They did not provide financial details of the deal.
Separately, Microbonds today announced that it has completed an internal round of financing totaling $7 million led by Whitecastle Equity Partners.
"We were the first investor in Microbonds and have confidence that the technologies represent an essential solution which is necessary for the industry to achieve their product performance and cost goals going forward,” said Whitecastle Partner Elmer Kim, in a statement. “Microbonds has assembled a strong technical and management team who have consistently demonstrated the resolve, commitment and ingenuity required to make the company and its technologies successful.”
With the completion of this financing, Microbonds stands poised “to capitalize on the strong industry interest we have received to date,” said Geier, in the same statement. “We will now accelerate our capabilities in manufacturing and research and development, both internally and with our supply-chain partners, to ensure that we are aligned for the long term with the needs and directions of our customers. Whitecastle has been a steadfast supporter of the company since the beginning and we are fortunate to have such a strong partner to help us as we build the company."
In addition to boosting capital, Microbonds has expanded its management team. The company announced today the appointments of Tim Smith as VP, worldwide sales and marketing, and William (Bud) Crockett, Jr. as manager of customer applications.
Smith is a 20-year veteran in high-technology semiconductor, SOC, IP sales and service at the die level, while Crockett has more than nine years of international expertise in the packaging assembly and test industry.
