March 10, 2009 -- IPtronics announced the availability of solder bumped solutions for "flip chip" applications of 40 and 120 Gigabit/sec parallel optical interconnects. The company says its solder bumped solutions enable high volume flip chip applications with better performance, lower cost and high density compared to traditional wire-bonding technology. The company will showcase the technology at OFC/NFOEC 2009.
Flip chip technology has been used extensively in consumer applications such as cell phones and laptop computers. IPtronics contends that while wire-bonding is the technology of choice for prototyping and lower quantities, flip chip technology is geared for low cost, high capacity mass production. Better performance is achieved since less parasitics, reflections and noise are induced compared to the case with wire-bonds. Lower cost in production is achieved through a single standard reflow assembly process versus multiple wire bond operations; this also boosts module vendors' capacity. High density is achieved through the fact that additional space for the wire-bonds are no longer needed, according to IPtronics.
IPtronics bases its solder bump solutions on an established flow with its partner company, semiconductor manufacturer ST Microelectronics (STM). The companies say the flow is easily scalable to very high volumes and is less costly than compression bump technology or stud bumps. The solder bumps are lead-free and RoHS compliant. In order to be able to realize a supply of hundreds of millions of devices, all production has also been outsourced to STM, which has certified IPtronics as a design center based on the partnership agreement, and will guarantee IPtronics' customers production capacity
Jesper Bek, CEO of IPtronics Inc., comments, "I am proud that IPtronics is taking yet another step forward in powering the parallel optical interconnect market. By enabling truly high volume and low cost applications, the industry has a real and present alternative to power hungry electrical interconnects and an opportunity for greener, more power efficient systems while adding more throughput"
IPtronics says it targets: 4 channel solutions at Infiniband DDR and QDR QSFP modules; active optical cables; 40GBASE-SR4 and video applications, and proprietary solutions. The 12 channel solutions cater to SNAP12, CXP, and 100GBASE-SR10. IPtronics expects that the solder bump technology will be widely used in optical subassemblies, also known as optical engines, for the above applications.
On the Web:
www.iptronics.com
www.st.com
www.ofcnfoec.org
