Here - Yole Developpement

For immediate release:
“Analyzing the status of the patent situation of FOWLP
technology is key to understanding the business situation,”
says Yole Développement
FOWLP Patent Analysis from Yole Développement
Lyon, France – July 8, 2012: Yole Développement announces its FOWLP Patent Analysis. FOWLP
(Fan-Out Wafer Level Packaging) is the most innovative advanced packaging technology today,
adopted for mobile phone and consumer electronics applications.
After several years of specific analysis for customers, Yole Développement has decided to publish its
first analysis of the technical contents of patents: we have focused this first analysis on the FOWLP
area, a new packaging technology which is changing the patent landscape for semiconductor
packaging across a wide range of application spaces. “Yole Développement has developed a specific
methodology to conduct our analysis, mixing Yole Développement technical and business knowledge
with classical access to patent database,” explains Lionel Cadix, Market & Technology Analyst,
Advanced Packaging at Yole Développement.
A complex patent landscape: a few companies with a lot of patents, a lot of companies
with a few patents
10 companies dominate the FOWLP IP space, but more than 120 organizations have patents in this
field and represent 232 relevant patent families and 249 related patent families (Yole
Développement has discovered more than 1,000 patents). The Yole Développement analysis
provides a database of all the relevant patents in an Excel file enabling multi-criteria search. The
Yole Développement – Le Quartz – 75 cours Emile Zola – 69100 Lyon-Villeurbanne - France

criteria are basically those we used for the technological segmentation:
‣ Patent information (Patent publication number, title, abstract, …)
‣ FOWLP structure criteria
‣ Chip orientation
‣ Carrier shape
‣ Architecture details (2D structures, 3D structures, use of vertical interconnects, technology
used, packaged devices)
The business models of the companies involved in the FOWLP IP space are very different: integrated
device manufacturers, assembly services providers, fabless companies, IP companies, material
manufacturers, equipment makers, have applied patents in the FO WLP area.
It is also interesting to note that the size of the players involved in this area is variable. We can find
large companies like TSMC as well as start-up and small players like Megica. The FOWLP IP space is
studied from different angles and the analysis provides analysis of patents filled by these different
kinds of players including the most recent assignees.
This complete description of the patent landscape is included in the first part of the analysis and it
provides all the background materials for the FOWLP patent landscape analysis.
The analysis provides a complete analysis of the patent landscape including geographic origins of
the patents, company or R&D organizations that have been grated the patents, historical data on
when the companies have applied patents in the last 20 years, inventors of the patents, expiration
status, R&D collaborations…
Detailed analysis of the TOP10 FOWLP patent assignees
The analysis also provides a deep dive into each patent portfolio of the TOP10 patent assignees,
including Infineon, ACE, Tessera, Samsung, Freescale, STATSChipPac, ASE, Amkor Technologies and
STMicroelectronics.
For each of these companies, the analysis provides an in-depth analysis of the patent portfolio of
these companies, highlighting the following points:
‣ Company patent portfolio evolution
‣ Countries of deposition and origin of the patents
‣ Top inventors
‣ Process flow developed by the company (for commercially available devices)
‣ Technical segmentation of each patent portfolio
‣ Patent portfolio analysis for each manufacturing process steps and architecture
‣ Main technical innovations
‣ Which patents are used today in production, which patents are here to prepare the future
generation of FOWLP technologies (multi dies, panel scale FOWLP, PoP FOWLP, TMV…)
‣ Remaining challenges for the company from Yole Développement analysis
This analysis of each company provides an in-depth view of the strengths and weaknesses of the
patent portfolio of each company and the developments that are now implemented by these
companies.
Unique technology analysis of the patent content and identification of the key patents
Based on Yole Développement analysis of the technology trends in FOWLP, the R&D of all the
players worldwide and teardown of the devices in production, Yole Développement have been able
to identify and analyze the most important innovations for each process step of FOWLP, from die
placement to encapsulation, passivation to bumping…
“For each part of the process steps of FOWLP, the analysis provides the related patents and the
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evidence of its use in real devices taking full benefit of teardown analysis provided by our partner
System Plus Consulting,” says Lionel Cadix, Market & Technology Analyst, Advanced Packaging at
Yole Développement.
For example, a strong focus is made on Infineon’s eWLB technology as well as on the 2 nd generation
FOWLP patents describing new architectures using the eWLB solution (please see also the full
reverse analysis carried out by System Plus Consulting: Infineon Fan-out WLP Reverse Costing
Analysis).
As a synthesis, the analysis provides a ranking of the most important patents to highlight which of
all the analyzed documents are blocking, which company owns such patents and the content of
each patent.
Unique methodology developed by Yole Développement
Based on requests on Micropatent, and several other database, Yole Développement has developed
a unique methodology to define a technical segmentation of the patent landscape and define which
patents are the most innovative, either to prepare the future or to be used already in production.
“Yole Développement, by mixing its technical knowledge, business understanding and patent search,
is able to provide unique analysis and added value you will find in this analysis,” adds Jérôme Baron,
Business Unit Manager, Advanced Packaging at Yole Développement.
About FOWLP patent analysis:
‣ Authors:
Lionel Cadix joined Yole Développement after the completion of several projects linked to the
characterization and modeling of high density TSV and 3DIC chip stacking in collaboration with CEA-
LETI and STMicroelectronics during his PhD. He is author of several publications and 8 patents in the
field of 3D Integration.
Jérôme Baron is the business unit manager of the semiconductor packaging market research Yole
Développement. He has been following the 3D packaging market evolution since its early
beginnings at device, equipment and material levels. He was granted a Master of Science degree in
Nanotechnologies from the National Institute of Applied Sciences in Lyon, France
‣ Catalogue price: Euros 6,000.00 (single user license) - Publication date: July 2012.
For special offers and the price in dollars, please contact David Jourdan (jourdan@yole.fr or
+33 472 83 01 90).
‣ Companies cited in this analysis:
Advanced Chip Engineering (ACE), Infineon Technologies, Samsung, STATS ChipPAC, Tessera,
Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE), Freescale Semiconductor, Micron Technology, Megica,
Qimonda, Amkor Technology, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (TSMC),
STMicroelectronics, Fujitsu, Hynix Semiconductor, Agency For Science Technology & Research
(ASTAR), Broadcom, NXP, Renesas Electronics, Xintec, Hitachi, Sony, Analog Devices, Flip Chip
Technologies, IMEC, Jiangyin Changdian Advanced Packaging (JCAP), Mediatek Inc, Motorola,
Nippon Steel, United Microelectronics Corp (UMC), Advanced Interconnect Solutions, Advanced
Micro Devices, ChipMOS Technologies, IBM, Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), King
Dragon International, National Hybrid, Nepes, Schott, Semiconductor Manufacturing International
Corp (SMIC), Shinko Electric Industries, Siliconware Precision Industries, Sumitomo Bakelite, Toyota
Industries, Unisem Holdings, Visera Technologies, Yamaha, Yupei Technology, Agilent Technologies
Inc, Altera, Apic Yamada, Aptina Imaging Corporation, Atmel, Cambridge Silicon Radio, Casio
Computer, China WLCSP, Chipbond Technology Corporation, Cypress Semiconductor, Daimler Benz,
Deca Technologies, Easetech Korea, Epic Technologies Inc, Epworks, Express Packaging, Systems,
Fairchild Semiconductor, Fineart Technology, Formfactor, Fujikura, Georgia Tech Research, Ibiden,
Invensas, IPdia, Kingston Technology, Kyocera Chemical, LSI Logic, Marvell, Maxim Integrated
Products, Microasi Inc, Miji Electronic, Mitsubishi Electric, Nanonexus Inc, National University Of
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Singapore, NEC Electronics, Oerlikon, Panasonic, Petari Incorporation, Philips, Powertech
Technology, Princo, Prisma Fibers, Qualcomm, Ricoh, Salmon Technologies, Sharp, Silicon Storage
Technology, Texas Instruments, Thin Film Module, Toppan Printing, Toray Advanced Materials
Korea, Toshiba, Triquint Semiconductor, Tsinghua University, Ultratech Inc, Universiteit Gent, US
National Institutes of Health (NIH), Verigy (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Waters Technologies, Westinghouse
Electric…
About Yole Developpement – www.yole.fr
Beginning in 1998 with Yole Développement, we have grown to become a group of companies providing
market research, technology analysis, strategy consulting, media in addition to finance services. With a solid
focus on emerging applications using silicon and/or micro manufacturing, Yole Développement group has
expanded to include more than 50 associates worldwide covering MEMS, Microfluidics & Medical, Advanced
Packaging, Compound Semiconductors, Power Electronics, LED, and Photovoltaics. The group supports
companies, investors and R&D organizations worldwide to help them understand markets and follow
technology trends to develop their business.
CUSTOM STUDIES
TECHNOLOGY & MARKET REPORTS
• Market data, market research and marketing • Collection of reports
analysis
• Players & market databases
• Technology analysis
• Manufacturing cost simulation tools
• Reverse engineering and reverse costing
• Component reverse engineering & costing analysis
• Strategy consulting
More information on www.yole.fr
• Corporate Finance Advisory (M&A and fund raising)
MEDIA
• Critical news, Bi-weekly: Micronews, the magazine
• In-depth analysis & Quarterly Technology
Magazines: MEMS Trends– 3D Packaging – iLED –
Power Dev'
• Online disruptive technologies website: www.imicronews.com
• Exclusive Webcasts
• Live event with Market Briefings
CONTACTS
For more information about :
• Services : Jean-Christophe Eloy (eloy@yole.fr)
• Reports: David Jourdan (jourdan@yole.fr)
• Media : Sandrine Leroy (leroy@yole.fr)
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