Asia-Pacific Die Attach Equipment Market - Growth, Trends, Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

The die attach equipment market is expected to regsiter a CAGR of 15.2% over the forecast period. The market is expected to benefit from assembly and packaging opportunities created by the below-mentioned trends.

Key Highlights

• A significant focus for the next investment round by market vendors is developing die bonding and packaging solutions for smaller and highly complex 5G compatible smartphones. 5G is a unifying connectivity platform for future innovation enabling secure cloud access continuously at significantly higher data and video transmission speeds.
• User adoption of 5G capabilities expand mobile broadband activities and accelerate artificial intelligence usage for the Internet of Everything. Likewise, the substrate and wafer-level packaging processes for mobile internet, computing, 5G, and automotive end-user applications drove the semiconductor industry to see a recovery in capital investment for memories and logic. The foundries, however, look for applications in advanced fields, as per BESI Annual Report 2019.
• The company has shared plans on a medium-to-long-term increase in capital investment towards expanded semiconductor and FPD applications. Whereas, as per Shibaura, in semiconductor assembly equipment, active development of high-speed, high-precision bonding equipment for FOWLP / PLP and μLED is being looked out for.
• BESI has shared plans on investing in new assembly technologies such as FOWLP, TCB, TSV, ultra-thin dies, hybrid bonding, and large area and wafer level molding, and solar and 3D-lithium-ion battery plating for the new digital society. Its lineup under Die attach equipment includes a single chip, multi-chip, multi-module, flip chip, TCB, FOWLP, and hybrid die bonding systems and die sorting systems.
• However, one source of concern is the continuing uncertain outlook due to the impact of the global spread of COVID-19. Lockdowns and production halts across Asia-pacific due to COVID-19 outbreak has significantly impacted the production and consumption of semiconductors. With majority of the IDS and foundries located in the region, the impact of shutdowns has led to reduced spending on capital investments. This is likely to impact the market studied with a slowed recovery expected across 2020.

Key Market Trends

CIS is expected to witness significant growth

• CMOS image sensors have been offering the camera functions in smartphones and other products, and as the scaling demand grows, the related manufacturing issues in the fab arise.
• The higher-bandwidth data performance progressed from 3G to 4G, and currently to 5G, the demand for higher quality cameras has grown. Based on the need for higher pixel counts and better resolution, this trend has propelled the CMOS image sensor stacking techniques. Beyond these trends, the areas of biometric ID, 3D sensing, and enhanced human vision applications have augmented the segment growth.
• Customer demand for bigger and better cameras result in more sensors with bigger die sizes. Besides pixel scaling, CMOS image sensors are undergoing other innovations like die stacking. Vendors in the market studied are also using different interconnect technologies, such as through-silicon vias (TSVs), hybrid bonding, and pixel-to-pixel for the same.
• In hybrid bonding, for instance, the dies are connected using copper-to-copper interconnects. For this, two wafers are processed in a fab. One is the logic wafer, while the other is the pixel array wafer. The two wafers are joined using a dielectric-to-dielectric bond, followed by a metal-to-metal connection.
• Hybrid bonding DBI technologies, Xperi’sproprietary technology, is being significantly used by Samsung towards CMOS image sensor fabrication for its phones. This technology for CMOS Image Sensors facilitates room temperature Cu-Cu permanent bonding, low-temperature annealing (around 300°C) & no external pressure bonding process (dielectric/metal).
• Prior to this, direct bond technology has thus played an enabling role in the realization of pixel scaling (backside illumination) BSI and stacked BSI with multiple generational variations been led by Xperifor over 15 years.

LED to dominate market share

• Die attach material represents a key role in the performance and reliability of mid, high, and super-high power LEDs. With an increasing LED penetration rate, the demand for die-attach equipment is increasing. The selection of suitable die-attach material for a particular chip structure and application depends on various considerations, which include packaging process (throughput and yield), performance (thermal dissipation output and light output), reliability (lumen maintenance), and cost. Eutectic gold-tin, silver-filled epoxies, solder, silicones, and the sintered materials have all been used for LED die attach.
• For instance, SFE provides an Epoxy Adhesive bonding method where its LED Epoxy Die Bonder machine features an index time of 0.2 Sec /Cycle (90 Percent Rate of Operation) with a chip size of 250 * 250 standard providing lead frame recognition through 2 Camera. Its software function provides auto mount level & pick up level teaching function.
• Further, conductive adhesives (mostly silver-filled epoxies) constitute the largest class of thermal die-attach materials (by unit number) for LEDs. They are compatible with existing back-end packaging equipment and provide an attractive cost/performance balance (typically up to 50 W/mK thermal with the secondary reflow compatibility). As they stick to bare silicon, they are the most preferred material for dies without back-end metallization like GaN on silicon.
• Further, in the LED market, there are a lot of rivals or competitors, and ASM is one of the prominent players in this market, and its LED Epoxy High speed die bonder AD830 dominates in the LED market. It is fast, reliable, accurate with die placement accuracy of +/-1 mil and +/-3 degree, cycle time for a small chip like 10mil x 10mil is 180 ms, which is an equivalent UPH of 18,000. It is equipped with a Post bond inspection system that monitors the bonded unit at the pre-set placement range.

Competitive Landscape

The APAC Die attach equipment market is moderately compoetitive with large number of players having small market share. The companies keep on innovating and neter into strategic partnerships in order to maintain their market share.

• September 2020 - SK Hynix made headway to establish a supply chain for security and cost-saving in chip production. The back-end led efforts localized the supply chain for die bonder, critical equipment for chip-making that previously was obtained majorly Japanese supplies, with Hanwha Precision Machinery.
• June 2020 - K&S on account of LED industry traction, has launched a High Accuracy Mini LED Transfer at 180,000 Chips per Hour using Mini LED backlight display technology. LED industry players are looking forward to increasing demand created by the innovative display technology and hope to get away from the dark time of oversupply and low-price competition.

Additional Benefits:

• The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format
• 3 months of analyst support