News

29 January 2010

 

TriQuint ships 100 millionth CuFlip-based product

RF front-end product manufacturer and foundry services provider TriQuint Semiconductor Inc of Hillsboro, OR, USA says that it has now shipped 100 million units of products incorporating its patented CuFlip copper flip-chip interconnect technology.

TriQuint claims that CuFlip enables superior RF performance and design flexibility, and speeds manufacturing and assembly. It adds that its highest-volume CuFlip-based product — the TQM7M5012 (a HADRON II power amplifier module) — powers some of the world's most popular consumer devices. More than 30 customers have chosen it for applications ranging from data cards, netbooks and e-readers, to machine–to-machine devices and many of the most popular 3G smartphones, including four of the top five mobile phone OEMs, three of the world’s top data-card suppliers, three of the top five smartphone makers, and the world's most popular wireless reading device.

The TQM7M5012 is a 5mm x 5mm HADRON II Polar EDGE power amplifier module (PAM), which is 50% smaller than previous generations. The highly integrated module includes a power amplifier (PA) designed for GSM/EDGE wireless handsets and data devices in GSM 850/900/1800/1900 bands. It supports both class 12 GPRS mode and E2 open-loop polar EDGE mode, while delivering what is claimed to be best-in-class current consumption and noise performance in the critical GMSK mode, improving handset battery life and thermal efficiencies.

The TQM7M5012’s design flexibility is enabled in part by CuFlip, which employs uniform copper bumps to enhance product performance, reliability, and manufacturing scalability. Unlike wire bonds, copper bumps enhance the thermal and electrical conductivity, allowing a more direct signal and better thermal path to the device without traveling through the epoxy and back-side gold-plated vias. Also, CuFlip can enable very low z height, offering a smaller overall footprint and lower height than competing offerings, the firm claims, to support ultra-slim device designs.

CuFlip’s ability to mimic the streamlined assembly process of a standard surface-mount technology (SMT) component also helps to reduce cycle time and increase assembly line throughput. The uniformity of the copper pillars ensures the precise manufacturing tolerance essential for higher parametric yields and optimal capacity utilization, TriQuint adds.

“CuFlip technology is a strategic differentiator for TriQuint,” says product marketing manager Stuart Laval. CuFlip’s ability to speed the manufacturing and assembly of products enabling cost savings that the firm can pass on to our customers, he adds.

TriQuint is using CuFlip in several upcoming product lines, including the QUANTUM Tx Module family for dual-band and quad-band, GSM/GPRS (2G) and GSM/GPRS/EDGE (2.5G) applications and the TRITON PA Module family for WCDMA/HSUPA applications. Both families of products are aligned with industry-leading transceiver chipset vendors, the firm adds.

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