JX Nippon Mining & Metals Expands UMB Capacity in Isohara

JX Nippon Mining & Metals announced on Tuesday the firm expanded non-electrolytic plating capacity for Under Bump Metallurgy (UMB) to 2.5-3 times at Isohara plant in Ibaraki, Japan. UBM is an underlying metal layer, such as nickel or gold, for solder bumps. Isohara plant becomes able to process 25,000-30,000 wafers per month from present 10,000 wafers per month. The new plating line will start commercial operation in February. The capital expenditure is several hundred million yen.

UBM protects IC metal, prevents solder spread and improves attachment with solder. JX Nippon Mining & Metals started UMB processing service at Isohara plant in January 2008. The firm decided the capacity expansion to meet increasing demand for flip chip bonding.

The service covers silicon wafers, gallium arsenide wafers and other material wafers as well as 12-inch diameter wafers, processing non-electrolytic nickel/gold or nickel/palladium/gold plating layer on wafers. The firm also examines capacity expansion for downstream service to process solder bumps.