ChipMOS TECHNOLOGIES INC. provides semiconductor assembly and testing services. Specifically, the company is one of the leading independent provider of testing and assembly services for LCD, OLED, automotive panel and other display panel driver semiconductors and advanced memory and logic/mixed-signal products in Taiwan. The depth of the company’s engineering expertise and the breadth of its assembly and testing technologies enable it to provide its customers with advanced and comprehensive asse...
ChipMOS TECHNOLOGIES INC. provides semiconductor assembly and testing services. Specifically, the company is one of the leading independent provider of testing and assembly services for LCD, OLED, automotive panel and other display panel driver semiconductors and advanced memory and logic/mixed-signal products in Taiwan. The depth of the company’s engineering expertise and the breadth of its assembly and testing technologies enable it to provide its customers with advanced and comprehensive assembly and testing services. In addition, the company’s geographic presence in Taiwan is attractive to customers wishing to take advantage of the logistical and cost efficiencies stemming from its close proximity to foundries and producers of consumer electronic products in Taiwan.
Principal Consolidated Subsidiaries
Below is a description of the company’s principal consolidated subsidiaries:
ChipMOS TECHNOLOGIES (BVI) LTD., or ChipMOS BVI was incorporated in the British Virgin Islands.
ChipMOS SEMICONDUCTORS (Shanghai) LTD. ChipMOS Shanghai was incorporated in Mainland China in March 2020, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of ChipMOS BVI. It primarily engaged in providing marketing of semiconductors and electronic related produces, for its parent company and affiliates, throughout Mainland China.
ChipMOS U.S.A., Inc. ChipMOS USA primarily engages in providing marketing of semiconductors and electronic related produces, for its parent company and affiliates, throughout the United States of America.
Strategy
The principal components of the company’s business strategy are to focus on providing its services to potential growth segments of the semiconductor industry; continue to invest in the research and development of advanced assembly and testing technologies; build on its strong presence in taiwan and strong industrial position outside Taiwan; expand its offering of vertically integrated services; and focus on increasing sales through long-term agreements with key customers, as well as business with smaller customers.
Principal Products and Services
Memory and Logic/Mixed-Signal Semiconductors
Testing
The company provides testing services for memory and logic/mixed-signal semiconductors:
Memory: The company provides testing services for huge amount of varieties of memory semiconductors, such as SRAM, DRAM and Flash memory. To speed up the time-consuming process of memory product testing, the company provides parallel test, which includes the completion of a tested wafer in one touchdown (up to 3,000 plus DUTs testing simultaneously). Wafer type includes Aluminum PAD, RDL PAD, Cu Pillar, WLCSP and prober test temperature between -55°~150° and provide 30MHz ~ 143 MHz test speed for DRAM product, 50MHz ~ 400 MHz test speed for FLASH product. The memory semiconductors the company tested were applying primarily in desktop computers, laptop, tablet computers, handheld consumer electronic, devices and wireless communication devices.
Logic/Mixed-Signal: The company conducts tests on a wide variety of logic/mixed-signal semiconductors, with lead counts ranging from the single digits to over 1024 and data rate of up to 16Gbps. The semiconductors the company tests include high-end audio/video codec, networking/communications, MCU, LCD related, MEMS related, DDR related and automotive electronics used for home entertainment/media center, personal computer applications, network/communication, mobile smart devices and cars. The company also tests a variety of application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), for applications, such as FHD/UHD/8K LCD TV with AI functions, Smartphone, Tablet PC and Cars etc.
The following is a description of the company’s pre-assembly testing services:
Engineering Testing: The company provides engineering testing services, including software program development, electrical design validation, reliability and failure analysis.
Software Program Development Design and test engineers develop a customized software program and related hardware to test semiconductors on advanced test equipment. A customized software program is required to test the conformity of each particular semiconductor to its particular function and specification.
Electrical Design Validation: A prototype of the designed semiconductor is submitted to electrical tests using advanced test equipment, customized software programs and related hardware. These tests assess whether the test result of the prototype semiconductor complies with the designed requirements using a variety of different operating specifications, including functionality, frequency, voltage, current, timing and temperature range.
Reliability Analysis: Reliability analysis is designed to assess the long-term reliability of the semiconductor and its suitability of use for its intended applications. Reliability testing may include operating-life evaluation, during which the semiconductor is subjected to high temperature and voltage tests.
Failure Analysis: As part of this analysis, the prototype semiconductor may be subjected to a variety of tests, including electron beam probing and electrical testing.
Wafer Probing: Wafer probing is a processing stage proceeding to the assembly of semiconductors and which involves visual inspection and electrical testing to ensure the processed wafers meets its customers’ specifications. Tests are conducted using specialized equipment with software customized for each application in different temperature conditions ranging from -55 degrees Celsius to 150 degrees Celsius. Wafer probing employs sophisticated design and manufacturing technologies to connect the terminals of each chip for testing. Defect chips are marked on the surface or memorized in an electronic file, known as a mapping file, to the following facilitate subsequent process.
Laser Repairing: This is a unique process in testing operation for special SOC memory products. In laser repairing, specific poly or metal fuses are blown after wafer probing to enable a spare row or column of a memory unit in SOC the replacement of the defective memory cell.
After assembly, the company performs the following testing services:
Burn-In Testing: This process screens out unreliable products using high temperature, high voltage and prolonged stresses environment to ensure that finished products will survive a long period of end-user service. This process is used only for memory products. This process needs customized Burn-In board.
Top Marking: By using laser marker, the marking content were according to the company’s customers’ specification, including the logo, part number, date code and lot number.
Final Testing: Assembled semiconductors are tested to ensure that the devices meet performance specifications. Tests are conducted using specialized equipment with software customized for each application in different temperature conditions ranging from -55 degrees Celsius to 125 degrees Celsius.
Final Inspection and Packing: Final inspection involves visual or auto-inspection of the devices to check any bent leads, ball damage, inaccurate markings or other package defects. Packing involves dry packing, package-in-tray, package-in-tube and tape and reel. Package-in-tube involves packing the semiconductors in anti-static tubes for shipment. Tape and reel pack involves transferring semiconductors from a tray or tube onto an anti-static embossed tape and rolling the tape onto a reel for shipment to customers.
Assembly
The company offers a broad range of package formats designed to provide its customers with a broad array of assembly services. The assembly services the company offers customers are leadframe-based packages, which include thin small outline packages, and organic substrate-based packages, including fine-pitch BGA.
Leadframe-Based Packages: These are generally considered the most widely used package category. Each package consists of a semiconductor chip encapsulated in a plastic molding compound with metal leads on the perimeter. This design has evolved from a design plugging the leads into holes on the circuit board to a design soldering the leads to the surface of the circuit board.
To address the market for miniaturization of portable electronic products, the company is developing and will continue to develop increasingly smaller versions of leadframe-based packages to keep pace with continually shrinking semiconductor device sizes. The company’s advanced leadframe-based packages generally are thinner and smaller, have more leads and have advanced thermal and electrical characteristics when compared to traditional packages. As a result of its continual product development, the company offers leadframe-based packages with a wide range of lead counts and sizes to satisfy its customers’ requirements.
Organic Substrate-based Packages: As the number of leads surrounding a traditional leadframe-based package increases, the leads must be placed closer together to reduce the size of the package. The close proximity of one lead to another can create electrical shorting problems and requires the development of increasingly sophisticated and expensive techniques to accommodate the high number of leads on the circuit boards.
The BGA format solves this problem by effectively creating external terminals on the bottom of the package in the form of small bumps or balls. These balls are evenly distributed across the entire bottom surface of the package, allowing greater pitch between the individual terminals. The ball grid array configuration enables high-pin count devices to be manufactured less expensively with less delicate handling at installation.
The company’s organic substrate-based packages employ a fine-pitch BGA design, which uses a plastic or tape laminate rather than a leadframe and places the electrical connections, or leads, on the bottom of the package rather than around the perimeter. The fine-pitch BGA format was developed to address the need for the smaller footprints required by advanced memory devices.
The following diagram presents the basic component parts of a fine-pitch BGA package:
Wafer-level CSP (WLCSP) is the technology of packaging an integrated circuit at wafer level. WLCSP is essentially a true chip scale package (CSP) technology, since the resulting package is practically of the same size as the die. WLCSP has the ability to enable true integration of wafer fab, packaging, test, and burn-in at wafer level in order to streamline the manufacturing process undergone by a device start from silicon wafer to customer shipment.
Most other kinds of packaging do wafer dicing first, and then puts the individual die in a plastic package and attaches the solder bumps. WLCSP involves the RDL, wafer solder bumping, while still in the wafer, and then wafer dicing.
FC Chip Scale Package (FC CSP) construction utilizes the flip chip bumping (with solder bump or Cu pillar bump) interconnection technology to replace the standard wire-bond interconnect. It allows for a smaller form factor due to wire loop reduction and area array bumping. FC CSP includes the substrate or leadframe type solution making an attractive option for advanced CSP application when electrical performance is a critical factor.
Display Driver Semiconductors and Gold MCB Bumping
The company also offers assembly and testing services for display driver semiconductors. The company employs COF and COG technologies for testing and assembling display driver semiconductors. In addition, the company offers gold bumping and metal composite bump services to its customers.
Chip-on-Film (COF) Technology
COF technology provides several additional advantages. For example, COF is able to meet the size, weight and higher resolution requirements in electronic products, such as display panels. This is because of its structural design, including an adhesive-free two-layer tape that is highly flexible, bending strength and its capacity to receive finer patterning pitch. COF package has been using for large-size and high-resolution panel display, especially on TFT-LCD and OLED TV set and NB as well.
Chip-on-Glass (COG) Technology
COG technology is an electronic assembly technology that is used in assembling display driver semiconductors, including TV/monitor, mobile and wearable products. Compared to the traditional bonding process for COF, the new COG technology requires lower bonding temperature. The major application of COG products is on TFT-LCD and AMOLED display of smart phone and automotive market, it integrates source, gate driver of display driver IC (DDIC) and touch or timing Controller IC into one chip, so the output channel is higher than COF products.
Bumping
The company also offers bumping services to its customers.
Based on the major product portfolio (judged by internal metal composition), the company provides:
Gold Family (Au bump, Au metal composite bump and Au RDL)
Gold bumping technology, which is in high demand for LCD driver ICs: In 2021, the company increased gold bumping wafer shipments resulting from demand for of high refresh rate panel, 5G mobile, gaming monitor, 8K display and automotive infotainment applications. In 2022, ChipMOS also developed VR/AR wearable devices for some new application opportunities, including metaverse. Meanwhile, medical, automotive and integration TDDI products are still its main business goal. In 2023, gold bumping development momentum will be emphasized on new products from OLED display penetration rate of smartphone, another focused business is that automotive category products continue to expand. In 2024, Display driver ICs conventional gold plating technology is matured and face severe competitiveness pressure from competitors.
RDL technology
As high speed, high performance and high accuracy requirement, many electronic devices need the capability of transferring higher current. By using Re-distribution layer (RDL) technology which can relocate to the PKG wire bonding position where necessary. ChipMOS can provide several electroplating metal thickness based on customer design request, including 2P1M, 2P2M and 3P2M structures. The min. Line/space of RDL could be 5/5um that makes integration of MCP and SIP achievable. For electric property requirement, thicker thickness structure is also available, that enables total thickness to 25um. In 2024, the company will deliver new Silver-Alloys electroplating RDL technology which transmits signals and performs better electrical property.
Cu/Solder Family (WLCSP, Lead free solder plating and Cu Pillar)
Through 12 inches WLCSP process for NOR flash to provide a thinner and smallest chip size for TWS (True Wireless Stereo) application is a success case recently. Now, Copper pillar and flip chip solution is another packaging solution for this application. Fine pitch Copper pillar is an effective way to increase interconnection densities. The typical Copper pillar height is 50~70 um, further development is micro bump, which advances Copper pillar pitch and size to 45/25 um. Copper pillar size and height. Copper pillar also offers advantages with respect to better electrical and thermal conductivity, as well as increasing electromigration resistance and carrying capability. The company is developing taller bump height up to 110um for power devices and adding it into mass production portfolio in the third quarter of 2023. In 2024, the structure portfolio will involve 3P3M WLCSP, 1P2M metal first, 1P2M PI first with followed 2 layer metals. As for new material, the company delivers new solder ball SACQ and high curable polymer HD4100 development for new WLCSP projects. Also implement HD4100 to NPI for many clients assignment. In WLCSP backend, the company takes efforts to non-backside coating requirement for customer.
Other Services
Drop Shipment
The company offers drop shipment of semiconductors directly to end-users designated by its customers. The company provides drop shipment services, including assembly in customer-approved and branded boxes, to a majority of its assembly and testing customers. Since drop shipment eliminates the additional step of inspection by the customer prior to shipment to end-users, quality of service is a key to successful drop shipment service. The company’s ability to successfully execute its full range of services, including drop shipment services, is an important factor in maintaining existing customers, as well as attracting new customers.
Software Development, Conversion and Optimization Program
The company works closely with its customers to provide sophisticated software engineering services, including test program development, conversion and optimization, and related hardware design. Generally, testing requires customized testing software and related hardware to be developed for each particular product. Software is often initially provided by the customer and then converted by it at its facilities for use on one or more of its testing machines and contains varying functionality depending on the specified testing procedures. Once a conversion test program has been developed, the company performs correlation and trial tests on the semiconductors.
Customer feedback on the test results enables the company to adjust the conversion test programs prior to actual testing. The company also typically assists its customers in collecting and analyzing the test results and recommends engineering solutions to improve their design and production process.
Customers
The company will continue to be, important factors in attracting and retaining customers: its advanced assembly and testing technologies; its strong capabilities in testing and assembling DDIC/TDDI and other display panel driver semiconductors; its focus on high-density memory products and logic/mixed-signal communications products; and its reputation for high quality and reliable customer-focused services.
The number of the company’s customers as of February 29, 2024, 67. The company’s top 15 customers in terms of revenue in 2023, included Asahi Kasei Microdevices Corporation; Chipone Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd.; Cypress Semiconductor Corporation; Elite Semiconductor Microelectronics Technology Inc.; GigaDevice Semiconductor (HK) Limited; Himax Technologies, Inc.; ILI Technology Corporation; Integrated Circuit Solution Inc.; Macronix International Co., Ltd.; Micron Technology, Inc.; Novatek Microelectronics Corp.; OmniVision Touch and Display Technologies Pte. Ltd.; Phison Electronics Corp.; Raydium Semiconductor Corporation; and Winbond Electronics Corporation.
In 2023, the company’s top three customers accounted for approximately 25%, 13% and 9% of its revenue, respectively. The majorities of the company’s customers purchase its services through purchase orders and provide its three-month non-binding rolling forecasts on a monthly basis.
Qualification and Correlation by Customers
The company’s customers generally require that its facilities undergo a stringent qualification process during which the customer evaluates its operations, production processes and product reliability, including engineering, delivery control and testing capabilities.
Sales and Marketing
The company maintains sales and marketing offices in Taiwan, the United States and Mainland China. The company’s sales and marketing strategy is to focus on memory semiconductors in Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Korea and the United States, logic/mixed-signal semiconductors in Taiwan, Japan and the United States, LCD, OLED, automotive panel and other display panel driver semiconductors in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Mainland China. As of February 29, 2024, the company’s sales and marketing efforts were primarily carried out by teams of sales professionals, application engineers and technicians, totaling staff members. Each of these teams focuses on specific customers and/or geographic regions.
The company conducts marketing research through its in-house customer service personnel and through its relationships with its customers and suppliers to keep abreast of market trends and developments. The company does product and system bench marking analysis to understand the application and assembly technology evolution, such as analysis on mobile handsets and Tablet, PC, wearable products. In addition, the company regularly collects data from different segments of the semiconductor industry and, when possible, it works closely with its customers to design and develop assembly and testing services for their new products. Sale will cowork with internal technology expert to work closely with the company’s customers as project kick off. The company provides full turnkey service (from design-in stage/design for bumping and assembly/design for testing services) to achieve design for mass production for new products.
Research and Development
In 2023, the company spent approximately NT$1,093 million (US$36 million) of its revenue on research and development.
Competition
The company’s competitors include large IDMs with in-house testing and assembly capabilities and other independent semiconductor assembly and testing companies, especially those offering vertically integrated assembly and testing services, such as Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc., Amkor Technology, Inc., Chipbond Technology Corporation, King Yuan Electronics Co., Ltd., Powertech Technology Inc., Jiangsu Changjiang Electronics Technology Co., Ltd. and United Test and Assembly Center Ltd.
Intellectual Property
As of February 29, 2024, the company held 296 patents in Taiwan,94 patents in the United States, 160 patents in Mainland China, 1 patent in the United Kingdom and 2 patents in Korea and Japan, respectively, relating to various semiconductor assembly and testing technologies. These patents will expire at various dates through to 2042. As of February 29, 2024, the company also had a total of 28 pending patent applications in Taiwan, and 73 in Mainland China. In addition, the company have registered ChipMOS and its logo as trademarks in Taiwan, the United States, Mainland China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, the United Kingdom and the European Community.
Environmental and Climate Change Matters
Since 2001, the company has adopted certain environmental friendly production management systems, and have implemented certain measures intended to bring its all processes in compliance with the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive/EC issued by the European Union and its customers.
All of the company’s facilities in Taiwan have been certified as meeting the ISO 14001 environmental standards of the International Organization for Standardization, and all of its facilities in Taiwan have been certified as meeting the ISO 45001 standards of the International Organization for Standardization.
History
ChipMOS TECHNOLOGIES INC. was founded in 1997. The company was incorporated in 1997 under the Republic of China (ROC) Company Act.
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