Extends copper wire production into high reliability applications including automotive and industrial

DALLAS, Oct. 14, 2014 — (PRNewswire) —  Texas Instruments (TI) (NASDAQ: TXN) today announced it has shipped more than 22 billion units of copper wire bonding technology from its internal assembly sites and is now in production for major high reliability applications including automotive and industrial.  The majority of TI's existing analog and CMOS silicon technology nodes have been qualified with copper, and all new TI technologies and packages are being developed with copper wire bond.  Along with its quality, reliability and cost benefits, copper wire offers equal or better manufacturability compared to gold.  It also delivers 40 percent higher electrical conductivity to give customers a boost in overall product performance with a number of TI's analog and embedded processing parts.

"TI has pioneered development of copper wire bonding for high volume production across a broad portfolio of products, factories and technologies," said Jan Vardaman, president and founder of TechSearch International, Inc.  "TI was one of the first manufacturers to recognize the many advantages copper wire technology offers a customer.  For example, it provides more thermal stability than gold and has superior mechanical properties to increase bond strength."

TI is currently shipping about two billion units of copper wire bond technology each quarter.  This includes production for key automotive segments such as safety (e.g., anti-lock brake systems, power steering, stability control), infotainment, body and comfort, and powertrain.  Enabling copper wire bond technology for automotive applications requires significant development to automotive standards and strict manufacturing discipline. TI's extensive manufacturability and reliability testing meets automotive industry qualification requirements and includes thorough process corner development, production quality and reliability monitoring, and manufacturing controls.

TI began shipping copper wire in its products in 2008.  Today, all of TI's assembly and test (A/T) sites are running copper wire bonding on all TI package types, including BGA, QFN, QFP, TSSOP, SOIC, PDIP and others.  Copper is at 71 percent of TI's total wire usage and TI is in production with:

• Minimum 30/60 microns staggered bond pad pitch
• Up to 1000 wires in BGA packages
• Multi-chip stacked die with die to die wire bonding
• Minimum 0.8mil copper wire diameter

"Having multiple wire bond capabilities that support a wide range of silicon technologies and product applications is a great benefit to our customers," said Devan Iyer, director of Semiconductor Packaging in TI's Technology & Manufacturing Group.  "TI's flexible manufacturing strategy also improves customer delivery and performance for products using copper wire bond.  We have a clear capacity advantage, both internally and with qualified subcontractors, that enable us to meet all levels of customer demand."

Learn more about TI's packaging technology, visit the links below:

• Check out our infographic on the Behind the Wheel blog.
• Read the white paper.
• View the TI packaging home page
• See TI's Jaimal Williamson discuss " POP Technology for the Automotive Industry" on October 14, 2014 at 9:00 a.m. PT as part of the 47^th International Symposium on Microelectronics (IMAPS 2014) in San Diego, CA
• Join Devan Iyer, TI's Director of SC Packaging, on October 16 at 1:00 p.m. ET for a Solid State Technology magazine webcast on advanced packaging.  Devan will be covering advanced packaging design and interconnects, including copper wire.

About Packaging at Texas Instruments
At Texas Instruments, semiconductor packaging is an integral part of the design process and strategic differentiator for our analog and embedded processing products. TI's innovative packaging technologies are designed to solve customers' problems by delivering advances in miniaturization, integration, high reliability, high performance, and low power.  TI's broad packaging portfolio is built upon decades of packaging expertise and supports thousands of diversified products, packaging configurations and technologies. From traditional BGA and ceramics, to advanced WCSP, PoP, SiP, QFN, flip chip, embedded silicon technologies and more, TI is committed to delivering packaging technologies that advance our products, and meet our customers' needs today and in the future.  For more information, visit www.ti.com/corp/docs/manufacturing/semipack.shtml.

About Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is a global semiconductor design and manufacturing company that develops analog ICs and embedded processors. By employing the world's brightest minds, TI creates innovations that shape the future of technology. TI is helping more than 100,000 customers transform the future, today. Learn more at www.ti.com.

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SOURCE Texas Instruments

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