General Micro Electronics (GME) designed, assembled, and analyzed semiconductors for wireless, memory management, wire line telecommunications, and networking programs. In January it bought a new cable-bonder machine to support its contract construction business that was growing. For the first number of months the new machine performed well, but then its operation became more inconsistent and eventually was no longer fulfilling its internal standard for wire-bond strength.
The strength of the cable-connection was an important quality measurement of semiconductor processors. With the use of overtime on the existing wire bonding equipment being very close to full utilization, the requirement to improve the operation of the new wire-bonding machine was becoming essential. GME's operations personnel were always tweaking the brand new machine in an effort to discover a mix of procedure parameters that would enhance the machine's functionality. Regrettably, the performance of the machine continued to deteriorate.
PUBLICATION DATE: May 01, 2013 PRODUCT #: NA0217-PDF-ENG
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