VIEWPOINT 2016: Doug Dixon, Global Marketing Director, Henkel Electronics Materials, LLC

Doug Dixon, Global Marketing Director, Henkel Electronics Materials, LLC

With China becoming increasingly more important in the semiconductor industry, as evidenced by the recent high-profile acquisitions, Henkel continues our keen focus on this region. Our China-based salesforce has tripled and we have earmarked more R&D resources for technology development specific to the Chinese semiconductor market both in wirebond and advanced packaging applications.

Recognizing the unique time-to-market requirements of the handheld sector and the need for module manufacturers and packaging houses to have capable materials at the ready, Henkel has invested in a dedicated R&D group to focus solely on the mobile market to align development timelines and customer product delivery schedules.

From a product perspective, Henkel had developed novel EMI shielding technologies that deliver flexibility and cost advantages as compared to the sputtering/plating methods currently available. This EMI solution, in addition to Henkel's die attach, underfill and encapsulant innovations, makes us uniquely suited to enable the wider adoption of wearables and the move to more compact, system-in-package designs.

In the advanced semiconductor packaging area, Henkel is developing novel adhesives that provide warpage control, particularly for stacked package applications, and launching a new wafer-applied underfill solution for TSV packages. For wirebond and flip-chip packages, Henkel will deliver new product solutions for RF and EMI shielding. Finally, a set of low-stress die attach and encapsulant materials specifically designed for MEMS applications will debut in 2016.

The acquisition and merger activity that has dominated the market over the past couple of years will continue into 2016 and beyond. Fortunately, Henkel's supplier status with the top players in the market puts us in an enviable position to be able to maintain -- and even grow -- these solid relationships.

We do see more market volatility in terms of orders/production and safety stock, as the semiconductor sector has moved from an industry-driven market to a consumer-driven market. This dynamic can be challenging for manufacturers and suppliers, as consumer demands can be a moving target.

Doug Dixon, Global Marketing Director
Henkel Electronics Materials, LLC
http://www.henkel.com/electronics

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