Henkel presents at SEMICON China 2023

Especially with the development trend of artificial intelligence, high-performance computing (HPC) and automobile electrification and intelligence, the demand for advanced packaging is also increasing. According to Yole Intelligence, from 2022 to 2028, the compound annual growth rate of the advanced packaging market will reach 10.6%, and the market value will reach 78.6 billion US dollars. Henkel is also actively deploying in the field of advanced packaging. Ram Trichur, Global Marketing Director of Semiconductors at Henkel Adhesive Electronics Division, said: "In the field of advanced packaging, Henkel is actively cooperating with our global customers. We also hope to use these experiences Share it with customers in China."

According to Ram Trichur, there are three main types of materials used by Henkel in the field of advanced packaging. The first type is underfill (underfill), the second type is wafer encapsulation materials, and the third type is cover plates and reinforcement rings. bonding. Among them, Henkel's underfill solution can currently match the most advanced manufacturing process in the industry, and its flow speed is more than 30% faster than competitors, which can help customers improve production efficiency and reduce costs.

Henkel Advanced Packaging Materials Solutions

Henkel's wafer encapsulation materials can be divided into two categories, one is liquid compression molding, and the other is printing molding. Ram Trichur emphasized that one of the outstanding advantages of Henkel's liquid encapsulant material is its industry-leading low warpage characteristics. Taking a 12-inch wafer as an example, using Henkel's liquid encapsulant material can achieve a warpage of less than 1mm, which can help customers significantly improve yield.

For the third type of bonding of the cover plate and the reinforcing ring, Ram Trichur took the conductive adhesive (ECA) as an example. He said that Henkel has a complete portfolio of conductive adhesives, which can be used for different FC-BGAs and even different advanced packages. Architecture, providing customized products.

Chiplet, as one of the new ways of advanced packaging, has also attracted much attention recently. Ram Trichur said that Chiplet is different from the traditional system-on-chip SoC. It divides a whole chip SoC into many small chips, and then splicing them together to form a system-on-chip similar to SoC. Because many different small chips need to be spliced, all the three types of packaging materials mentioned above will be used in packaging, and the entire splicing process is also very different.

Taking underfill as an example, there will be an interposer in the chiplet, so that the connection between chips will involve bonding from Die to interposer and from interposer to substrate, which is equivalent to a few more The application scenario of underfill. With more application scenarios, the types of solutions for underfill materials involved will increase accordingly. According to Ram Trichur, Henkel has a complete set of matching solutions, which mainly include three types: one is film-type underfill, that is, a film is pre-attached to the back of a chip or wafer, and then directly attached to the substrate or on the interposer; the second is that some customers hope to pre-coat the underfill on the substrate or interposer, and then stick it to the chip or wafer. The third method is post-coating, that is, the electrical connection is completed first, and then the underfill glue is flowed in. This method has higher requirements for the flow speed.

After the chiplet is completed, generally the size of the entire package will be relatively large, and if the size is large, it will face a challenge, that is, warping. If the warpage is not well controlled, it will affect the next solder ball soldering, and it is easy to cause the problem of virtual soldering. In order to control the warpage, the industry generally uses a cover plate or a reinforcement ring to hold the warpage. At this time, Henkel’s cover plate/reinforcing ring adhesive will be used.

Ram Trichur said that from the perspective of the entire industry, Chiplet can be regarded as a subset of advanced packaging. Regardless of other advanced packaging technologies, such as flip chip CSP, BGA, etc., Henkel can provide complete adhesive material solutions, especially for Chiplets, Henkel has many customized innovation projects.

At present, Henkel's series of material solutions for advanced packaging have been adopted by its major global customers, and Henkel also hopes to share these advanced solutions with Chinese customers. Dr. Ni Kefan said that Henkel attaches great importance to the development of the Chinese market. Henkel currently has 3 R&D centers in Shanghai. Last year, Henkel established the South China Application Technology Center in Dongguan to better meet customer needs in South China. In addition, in terms of production, Henkel has multiple production bases in China, including Yantai, Shanghai, and Zhuhai, Guangdong, which can meet the supply of most glues.

There are many variables on the supply side

Oil prices have lost about a fifth of their value since late last year on expectations of a slowing global economy and the possibility that the global oil market will remain in surplus. In view of this, on June 11 local time, Goldman Sachs significantly lowered its oil price forecast. Goldman Sachs was one of the most steadfast bulls on oil prices earlier this year, when it predicted international oil prices would rise to $100 a barrel by the end of the year. Larger-than-expected supplies from Russia, Iran and Venezuela were a key factor in lowering the outlook for oil prices, Jeff Curie, the bank's global head of commodities research, said in a note.

Kaneva and her team estimate that after the implementation of the voluntary production cut measures of about 1.1 million barrels per day, which came into effect in May, the average daily oil supply of "OPEC+" in the first six months of this year was still 17.5% higher than that of the same period last year. million barrels to 44.6 million barrels.

It remains to be seen how far members concerned will abide by the agreements, as the production cut pledges agreed in April are not mandatory.

On July 6, local time, Iraqi Oil Minister Hayan Abdul Ghani said in an interview with foreign media that Iraq is considering increasing its current oil production capacity of 5.4 million barrels per day. "Iraq wants to pass a promising plan to increase production capacity to 6 million barrels per day by signing licensing contracts with companies in the next stage." He said at an OPEC seminar held in Vienna that day.

In addition, higher output from some member states that have not participated in voluntary production cuts will also offset the positive impact of a series of production cuts on oil prices.

According to commodity data providers Kpler and Petro-Logistics, Iran exported an average of about 1.6 million barrels a day of oil in May and June this year, more than double the amount exported about a year ago and the highest since 2018. the highest level. In 2018, the United States reinstated sanctions on Iran, resulting in a sharp drop in the latter's oil exports.

demand is elastic

But on the other hand, despite the continued economic slowdown in major economies, global market demand remains resilient. On July 7 local time, foreign media quoted sources close to OPEC as saying that when the organization releases its first outlook later this month, it may maintain an optimistic view of oil demand growth next year, which is expected to slow down this year. slowed, but still above average.

The move came after the U.S. Energy Information Administration said the previous day that U.S. crude inventories fell more than expected due to strong refining demand, while gasoline inventories fell sharply after driving increased last week.

In addition, energy services company Baker Hughes said U.S. energy companies increased the number of active oil and natural gas rigs last week for the first time in 10 weeks, and the number of natural gas rigs hit the largest weekly increase since October 2016.