Karl Suss France Expands Manufacturing Capacity to Support Growing Demand for Flip Chip Bonders

MUNICH, Germany — Karl Suss France, a subsidiary of Suss MicroTec, announced that it has completed the expansion of its flip chip bonder manufacturing facility in France. The expansion of its facility more than doubles the company's capacity. With a total space of 1200 m², including a 700 m² cleanroom, this capacity expansion will enable the company to meet the growing demand for flip chip bonders.

Suss, the worldwide leading vendor of high accuracy flip chip bonders for the MEMS and optoelectronics markets, invested 12 Million FF in this capacity expansion. The new facility was constructed adjacent to its existing production facilities at Saint-Jeoire in the French Alps. The expansion is one part of Suss' continuous effort to further improve and support its products to give its customers a reliable roadmap for the future.

"Despite the current situation, demand for our high precise flip chip bonders continues to grow," said Gaël Schmidt, president of Karl Suss France. "This expansion was critical to supporting our customer base. In the new facility 130 employees now assemble machines on-site, substantially increasing our manufacturing speed and output."

Manufacturing components such as infrared sensors, radio frequency (RF) ICs and laser diodes requires the assembly of components that cannot be performed by traditional machines. To assemble laser diodes, for example, the chip and the fiber have to be aligned perfectly: the better the alignment the higher the data transfer rate that can be achieved. Using the Suss machines, alignment accuracy of 1 micron and less can be achieved. For bonding of multichip modules, another target market for the flip chip bonders, the FC 250 achieves a unique 1 micron post bonding accuracy. Dependant on the process technology, the FC 250 can reach a throughput of 300 bonds per hour without compromising accuracy.

About SUSS MicroTec
Suss MicroTec is a global supplier of manufacturing equipment and process technology for the advanced packaging, microelectronics and MEMS markets. With over 7,000 systems installed, Suss MicroTec products include coating and developing systems, proximity lithography systems, substrate bonders, flip chip bonders and probe systems. Headquartered in Munich, Germany, Suss MicroTec operates nine manufacturing, sales and service centers in North America, Europe, Asia and Japan. More information about Suss and its products is available from its web site at www.suss.com or www.suss.de.