Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1181966
54 SMT007 MAGAZINE I NOVEMBER 2019 you do the SMT manufacturing on the regular floor, bring those products into the cleanroom, and finish it off by doing the wire bonding and die attach. Some products are a cross between the traditional and microelectronic, and some are not; it depends on what the customers are trying to achieve. Johnson: It sounds to me like the technology for EMS and assembly looks more and more like it was in the semiconductor industry 20 years ago. Khan: Absolutely. It is a merging from regular PCB into semiconductor because we are talk- ing about wafers, dies, and dicing. Johnson: For EMS companies and contract manufacturers to move forward into this new technology, they need to revisit the practices and facilities used by semiconductor com- panies over the years as an example of their future. Khan: If you want to keep your technology and service offerings for future products, then you have to incorporate that into your own floor or find an alliance because sooner or later, it is going to happen; it's only a matter of time. You have to ensure that you're able to offer these ser- vices unless you want to be a traditional manufac- turer and work with the products that would not require these final manu- facturing microelectronic techniques. Johnson: What is it about these changes that keeps you up at night? Khan: Retaining custom- ers, especially the top large ones with decent margins, Khan: These types of smart devices use PCB microelectronics technology, which means wire bonding, die attach, flip chip, chip on board (CoB), and associated technologies. These new and innovated medical electronics devices are changing traditional manufacturing. With SMT machines, you have ambient room temperatures, so there's no need for a special environment. But when you talk about all of these new and very small devices, you need a Class 100 or 1,000 cleanroom (Figure 3), and you must maintain certain air pressure in those areas. You have to ensure the particles per mil - lion are often accounted for to maintain the integrity of the cleanroom. Then, you need sets of tools, devices, and machines; a differ- ent infrastructure inside of the cleanroom; and extremely knowledgeable personnel in the microelectronics arena, including operators, process engineers, and supervisors. Typically, people who are in microelectron- ics stay there. People who are in traditional manufacturing stay there. In some cases, there is a match. So, some of the components are microelectronic-based, and others are tradi- tional SMT-based. The marriage happens when Figure 3: A Class 100 or 1,000 cleanroom is necessary for effective PCB microelectronics assembly.