VIEWPOINT 2024: Ramachandran "Ram" K. Trichur, Global Market Segment Head, Semiconductor Packaging Materials, Henkel

Ramachandran "Ram" K. Trichur, Global Market Segment Head, Semiconductor Packaging Materials, Henkel

2023 was a challenging year for the global semiconductor market, with the first half of 2023 slower than expected and marked by semiconductor overcapacity and excess inventory. Certain sectors, such as memory, suffered more than others — namely automotive, data center, and industrial. Though consumer electronics demand was weak for much of the year, recent new product introductions are driving increased demand.

Signs of recovery emerged in the third quarter and have persisted through the year’s end. Overall, semiconductor market growth for 2023 will be slightly negative, but analysts predict a robust semiconductor economy over the next five years and certainly a better 2024 than the last twelve months.

Despite market challenges, Henkel continued to invest in and deliver on our wirebond and advanced packaging innovation roadmaps, launching seven new products in 2023. Highlights include a large die capillary underfill for large body, 2.5D packages used in AI and high-performance computing (HPC) applications.

The new underfill, Loctite® Eccobond UF 9000AE, offers excellent flow characteristics and high reliability. To enable next-generation automotive and industrial microcontrollers (MCUs), which are increasingly moving toward bare copper (Cu) leadframes, Henkel developed Loctite® Ablestik ABP 6392TEA. The electrically conductive die attach adhesive addresses the cost and performance demands of emerging MCU devices and other high I/O packages that require high thermal for exposed Cu pad designs.

In keeping with regulatory requirements, SVHC- and REACH-compliant upgrades were made to our Loctite® Ablestik ATB 100 series non-conductive die attach films used in traditional IC packaging and memory die stacking. And rounding out our 2023 product developments, die attach pastes for cost-conscious applications requiring standard thermal characteristics and cost-effective packaging were also introduced last year.

As for 2024, we see the market returning to positive territory. Henkel will continue investing heavily in material innovation for wirebond and advanced packaging applications — from power electronics and automotive reliability to mobile, consumer, AI and HPC. In all product developments, our sustainability commitments to use renewable carbon content and eliminate SVHCs will remain a priority.

Ramachandran "Ram" K. Trichur, Global Market Segment Head, Semiconductor Packaging Materials
Henkel
http://www.henkel.com

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