MB Allen, Manager of Applications and Sales, KIC

Heller is currently seeing a rebound from a first half of 2019 downturn which we saw accompanied by a shift in business from China to other regions such as SE Asia and Eastern Europe as a result of the US/China trade war.

For 2020 through 2022 we foresee significant growth driven by megatrends such as 5G networks, autonomous vehicles, and artificial intelligence (AI).

For 5G and autonomous vehicle applications, vacuum reflow has become essential given the impact of interconnect voids on the high frequency signals including millimeter wave. Heller has become a market leader for vacuum reflow as a result of superior vacuum profile control, system uptime, and our capability to provide custom-engineered configurations to address a diverse set of customer needs.

For AI and other high-performance computing (HPC) applications, interconnect bump pitches are scaling below 60 microns making flux difficult to clean which can lead to significant yield loss. Heller has collaborated with IBM and other industry partners to develop a SEMI-S2 certified continuous inline formic acid reflow oven that eliminates the need for flux and offers superior throughput and lower cost of ownership versus batch ovens.

In the area of substrate handling we are seeing increased customer demand for warpage control, class 100 and 1000 particle cleanliness, and FOUP-based automation to support heterogeneous integration and factory standards which are evolving towards front end of line.

Looking ahead to the next decade, this is an exciting time to be a part of a packaging industry that demands the innovation and cost improvements required to enable the megatrends.