NDC International and Neu Dynamics Corporation recently attended the 49th Annual International Symposium on Microelectronics in Pasadena, California on October 11th and 12th. The show was very successful and welcomed 125 exhibitors and 957 attendees – including more than 150 international attendees from 26 countries.
NDC International presented two new products this year that were a big hit at the show.
Howard Lasto from Air-Vac was on hand to demonstrate the Pick and Place Assembly Machine – ONYX29DB Semiconductor Assembly System. This breakthrough, precision table-top unit is very versatile and can perform a wide variety of tasks including dispensing, pick and place, assembly and sorting. The system is proving to be a desired platform with manufactures that need versatility for applications with lower volume, higher mix of products.
Dr. Matthias Bess from PINK was present to demonstrate the V6-G Low Pressure Plasma Treatment System. The material treated with low pressure plasma is slightly heated because the gas has a very low temp compared to plasma at atmospheric pressure. This advantage allows treatment of plastics or other temperature sensitive material.
We enjoyed connecting with our customers across the microelectronics industry at IMAPS 2016 and learning more about your changing needs and how we can best address them with manufacturing solutions.
If you missed us at the show and would like to discuss how the Air-Vac Pick and Place Assembly Machine and or the PINK Low Pressure Plasma Treatment System could meet your manufacturing needs, click here to contact us.
The 49th Annual International Symposium on Microelectronics will be held at the Pasadena Convention Center in Pasadena, California from October 10th to 13th, 2016. Stop by our booth and say hello.
We’ll be featuring our new Air-Vac pick and place assembly machine – the ONYX29DB Semiconductor Assembly System. This breakthrough new ultra-precise, semi-automated die assembly and bonding system is a table-top unit that can be used for assembling almost anything. Super accurate, with multiple tools that can change automatically, you’ll want to stop by our Booth #302 and take a look! Find out how this machine can give you versatility without limits.
Plus, PINK GmbH will be supporting the show with a V6-G, a table top platform along with Dr. Matthias Beß a Senior Process Engineer. PINK is a supplier of high-quality low-pressure plasma systems. They produce a wide variety of systems to meet the various markets our product portfolio addresses. The V6-G platform is designed for small series production runs, as well as R&D laboratories requiring low-pressure plasma treatment. Dr. Matthias Beß will be available during the entire show for discussion regarding the system capabilities and any potential customer requirements.
We will be exhibiting on October 11th and 12th along with more than 120 other exhibitors showcasing a wide range of new products serving the microelectronics industry, including consumer, healthcare and biomedical, military, aerospace, computing and automotive/industrial. We look forward to seeing you in the exhibit hall as we share the latest and best solutions to the changing needs in your business and research.
It is with great pleasure NDC International announces 3 new additions to our product portfolio. The new products allow NDC International to continue to expand and service our customer base with continued support.
ATI
Founded in 1996 ATI has specialized in Automated Metrology, Inspection System (AOI) and Bio Lab automation for various markets, such as semiconductors, LED, PCB and Photo-Voltaic Solar and Bio medical markets.
NDCI will be representing their Microarray dispenser for Bio medical segment.
Air-Vac Company
Founded in 1960, Air-Vac Engineering Company has been an innovator and a developer of vacuum technology for high-speed die fabrication. Over the years Air-Vac continued to grow in various area including automaton for the both the micro-electronics and SMT.
In the mid 2000 Air-Vac introduced the ONYX500 Cell, a multi-functional production platform with a wide range of capabilities supporting application for the Photonics, Semiconductors, MEMS, Bio-Technology and Electronics markets.
The ONYX500 platform is available as a table top model designed for labs or prototypes development or as a stand-alone production cell configurations designed for high volume manufacturing.
The automation product line with the most recent introduction of the IC Series of production platforms. The system supports multiple heads or motion axis and can be incorporated into a single cabinet unit. Featured examples can include transport systems, wafer ejectors, stack tray loaders, dispensers, eutectic ovens, feeders, shuttles, and flippers.
MMC
Founded in 1997 and with 20 years of manufacturing experience for the semiconductor market, MMC equipment is utilized in all leading manufacturing counties worldwide.
MMC Master Machinery Corp. is a manufacturer custom automation equipment,e as well as a supplier of Diodes, Rectifier and Semiconductor process equipment and components. MMC offers a unique benefit to Diodes, Rectifier and Semiconductors manufacturers in the industrial workplace. Automation Equipment includes Testing-Marking-Tapping systems, sorting, die bonding, custom automation, Furnaces, Evaporators and etching equipment.
Ready to get started. Contact us today to get started on a quote.
On March 16th Neu Dynamics attended a very dynamic initiative at our local Hatboro Horsham High school. The event was called Manufest and it was attended by over 270 students and parents.
The event was a <a href=”http://www.manufest.org/”>showcase of local companies </a>that are encouraging students to consider a career in advanced manufacturing. At the opening of the show we listened to Jeremy Bout speak about his career in manufacturing and he was amazing at getting the message across to the kids on a level that excited them.
Here is a quick promo on his work and his message:
I was so impressed with the students that took time to visit our booth. They asked very direct and smart questions about what a career in manufacturing, mold making and electronics would be like. I had one parent say to me, “You know, I never really thought about where and how things are made. Now that I am here and looking at all of these companies I am amazed and what is being manufactured in our backyard”.
That’s the word we need to get across to our younger generation. It’s OK if you want to learn a trade and that working with your hands and using creative ability is available right here in the USA. Small companies are the backbone of America and manufacturing is here to stay, so we need to educate our youth about the opportunities.
We recently had the pleasure of attending a local meeting that was hosted by our regional work force alliance and the NTMA. ( National Toolmakers Association) The primary focus was an in-depth presentation about trying to find, fill and keep talented people in the machining, mold making and tool and die business. For years, the US has been losing jobs to Asia and it’s been increasingly hard if not impossible to find trained professionals. The NTMA took a grass roots look at apprenticeship training across the US and have come up with a plan and program to train and certify pre-qualified people through our local colleges. One of the uphill battles that has faced our industry over the last 20 years is that this industry had a reputation that it was a ‘dirty’ job. That is not the case anymore.
The idea is to get the word out to local high schools that there are plenty of options/careers available if one does not want to go to college straight out of high school. There are good paying jobs in the machining industry. We want the kids that love to play with computers and programming. We want the kids that like to build things. Today’s machine shop is much different that it was in the 70’s and 80’s. Running a piece of equipment that has a price tag between $50,000 and $750,000 requires a person that knows how to program from 3D models and use 21st century skills that new generations possess and have generated demand for.
The new apprenticeship training model works off of NIMS based skills training and not the traditional 8000 hours that the previous state regulated model had in place. With the economy we currently operate in and the currency problems that China has created we are seeing more companies with a ‘buy USA’ attitude. The problem is too much work and not enough qualified and trained people. With this training program in place we can put qualified people that want to learn a trade to work. Neu Dynamics is planning on training at least 2-3 people over the next 3 years to reinforce our work force. We will work closely with the NTMA and our local manufacturing alliance. We will be attending a show called “manufest” at our local Hatboro-Horsham meeting on March 19th where we expect to attract as many as 500 students and parents from local high schools so they can view what we do.
Here is a video of John Shegda, local chapter president of the NTMA discussing these apprenticeships:
NDCI is pleased to welcome Ernest R. Burrell, III to its growing sales team.
Ernie Burrell is a seasoned sales executive with over 30 years’ experience in the semi-conductor industry. Over the course of his career, Ernie has held various positions that included manufacturing support, process development, field installations and most notably sales. During his tenure with Kulicke & Soffa and Datacon, Ernie cultivated client relationships with Cree, IBM, St Jude, GE, Lockheed Martin and Hutchinson. His work resulted in two global sales awards and three regional sales awards demonstrating his ability to meet and exceed projected sales goals.
Ernie lives in Pennsylvania with his family (wife, 2 children, daughter-in-law and 2 grandchildren) and is an avid outdoorsman enjoying cycling, fishing and hunting in his spare time.
NDC International is excited to release its new website, offering a place to easily share new products and services and allow visitors to find and sign up for it’s high impact newsletter.
“The new website is a highly visual, easy to navigate website that allows our customers to find what they need,” says Don Johnson, Vice President of Sales. “It will also allow our customers and visitors to sign up for our newsletter and find us on social media. These tools will be effective tools for communicating new products and services to the industry. Our customers are responsible for the continued growth of our company and they deserve a website that provides a powerful user experience.”
NDCI is also pleased to offer a new monthly newsletter offering news updates, company announcements and product offerings.
NDC International is proud to announce the appointment of Mahesh Hingorani as their field sales representative in Northern California. Mahesh has been selling semiconductor equipment in the Bay area for twenty years and is very familiar with both the industry and the highly sophisticated products marketed by NDCI. Mahesh can be reached at 510-468-9769 or at Mahesh@semitestsolutions.com.
NDCI is also pleased to announce new field sales representation. KYMAX Technologies from Tempe AZ will be our field sales reps for Southeastern United States. Please join us in welcoming Pat Corrigan and Jim Carrigan, from Kymax, to the NDC/NDCI family. Their contact information is jcarrigan@kymaxtech.com and pcorrigan@yourtps.com.
Story via Solid State Technology
Credit: Lara Chamness, senior market analyst manager, SEMI
Semiconductor Market Trends
2014 was the second record breaking year in a row in terms of semiconductor device revenues; the industry grew a robust 10 percent to total $336 billion, according to the WSTS. The strong momentum of the device market was enough to drive positive growth for both the equipment and materials markets. After two successive years of revenue decline, both the equipment and materials markets grew 18 percent and 3 percent, respectively last year, according to SEMI (www.semi.org). Even though the semiconductor materials market did not enjoy the same magnitude of recovery as the equipment market last year, the materials market has been larger than the equipment for the past seven years.
Just like last year, the weakened Yen negatively impacted total revenues for semiconductor materials and equipment (refer to Dan Tracy’s March 2014 article for more detail). The Table (below) shows the impact of the weakened Yen on Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan’s (SEAJ) book-to-bill data. SEMI reveals that if the data was kept in Yen, the 2014 market for Japan-based suppliers would be up 37 percent. However, when the Yen are converted to dollars the 2014 equipment market for Japan-based suppliers only increased 26 percent. When silicon semiconductor shipment volumes are compared year-over-year, shipments were up 11 percent. By comparison, silicon revenues only increased one percent. SEMI also tracks leadframe unit shipments. In 2014, leadframe shipments were up 9 percent year-over-year; however, leadframe revenues increased only 4 percent. Silicon and leadframe revenues were adversely impacted by intense price down pressure exasperated by the weakened Yen. Given that Japan-headquartered suppliers represent a significant portion of the equipment and materials markets; this has the effect of muting the growth of the global equipment and materials markets as well.
Semiconductor Equipment
Worldwide sales of semiconductor manufacturing equipment totaled $37.5 billion in 2014, representing a year-over-year increase of 18 percent and placing spending on par with 2004 levels. According to SEMI, looking at equipment sales by major equipment category, 2014 saw expansions in all major categories — Wafer Processing equipment increased 15 percent, while the Assembly and Packaging and Test equipment segments grew 32 and 31 percent, respectively. The Other Front-end segment (Other Front End includes Wafer Manufacturing, Mask/Reticle, and Fab Facilities equipment) increased 15 percent.
Taiwan retained its number one ranking last year at $8.2 billion, even though it was the only region to experience a year-over-year contraction in spending. The equipment market in North America maintained second place at $8.2 billion for the second year as its market grew a robust 55 percent due to investments in excess of a billion dollars each from Intel, GLOBALFOUNDRIES, and Samsung. Spending levels of $6.8 billion in South Korea remain significantly below their market high set in 2012 resulting in South Korea maintaining the third spot for the second year in a row. China moved up in the rankings to hit a market high and displacing Japan to claim the fourth position in the market. Strong investments by Samsung, SK Hynix, SMIC, and back-end companies are driving the equipment market in China. Equipment sales to Europe and Rest of world increased 24 and 4 percent, respectively in 2014. Rest of World region aggregates Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, other areas of Southeast Asia and smaller global markets.
Semiconductor Materials
SEMI reports that the global semiconductor materials market, which includes both fab and packaging materials, increased 3 percent in 2014 totaling $44.3 billion. Looking at the materials market by wafer fab and packaging materials, the wafer fab materials segment increased 6 percent, while the packaging materials segment was flat. However if bonding wire were excluded from the packaging materials segment, the segment increased more than 4 percent last year. The continuing transition to copper-based bonding wire from gold is negatively impacting overall packaging materials revenues.
Taiwan maintained the top spot for the fifth year in a row, followed by Japan, South Korea, Rest of World, and China. Driving the materials market in Taiwan are advanced packaging operations and foundries. Japan still claims a significant installed fab base and has a tradition in domestic-based packaging, although many companies in Japan have rapidly adopted a fab lite strategy and have consolidated their fab and packaging plants. South Korea passed Rest of World (primarily SE Asia) as the third largest market for semiconductor materials given the dramatic increase in advanced fab capacity in the region in recent years.
Outlook
Most analysts predict mid- to high single-digit growth for the semiconductor device market for 2015. Initial monthly data for silicon shipments and semiconductor equipment are proving to be encouraging. In light of growth expectations for the device market, SEMI projects that the semiconductor materials market will increase 4 percent this year. Given current CapEx announcements, the outlook for semiconductor equipment is optimistic as well, with current projections of the equipment market showing another year of growth, which would place the equipment market on par with the last market high set in 2011.
2014 was a much welcomed year for equipment and materials suppliers as device manufacturers easily exceeded revenues of $300 billion. Even with the weakened Yen, both the semiconductor and equipment segments experienced growth. 2015 is promising to be another growth year for the entire market with device, materials and equipment suppliers poised to experience increases for the year.
Portions of this article were derived from the SEMI Worldwide Semiconductor Equipment Market Statistics (WWSEMS), the Material Market Data Subscription (MMDS) and the World Fab Watch database. These reports are essential business tools for any company keeping track of the semiconductor equipment and material market. Additional information regarding this report and other market research reports is available at www.semi.org/marketinfo
