US initiatives and worldwide markets for Die Products

The term Known Good Die was coined in the early 1990´S to describe integrated circuits that had been prepared for use in Multichip Modules. The ICs thus prepared were “known” to meet quality and reliability metrics at least as stringent as the equivalent packaged component. These ICs were also “known” to be expensive, difficult to assemble, fragile and a host of other negative characteristics; some of which actually had some basis in fact. Recently, leading companies in the microelectronics industry are learning that the “Known Good Die” flow can benefit the bottom line for producing high volume, highly reliable ICs at low cost for today´s highly competitive environment. Consequently, the term “Known Good Die” is being used to describe the process of fully conditioning an IC, regardless of the final package form factor in which it is delivered to the customer. The companies that are providing bare die to the marketplace have therefore coined a new term, Die Products, that more fully captures the specific market segment in which these companies compete. This paper will explore the current status of the Die Products market and describe initiatives that are-currently underway to continue the improvements in infrastructure that are taking place and to insure that advances in technology are translated into value to the marketplace