Amkor Technology, Inc. today announced that AMD has entered into an agreement to license Amkor's lead free (Pb-free) electroplated wafer bumping technology. Terms of the license agreement were not disclosed. The electronics industry is striving to reduce or eliminate certain elements and compounds, such as lead, mercury, cadmium and halogen, in favor of "Green" products in response to legislation in Europe and Japan, overall environmental concerns and market pressures. This drive to adopt "Green" products is especially strong in the consumer electronics market.

"As one of the first microprocessor manufacturers to innovate with lead-free bumping technology, AMD is continuing its track record of environmental responsibility and customer-centric thinking in how we produce our products," said David Bennett, vice president of strategic manufacturing and alliances at AMD. "We are very pleased to license Amkor's technology as we drive towards a lead-free solution for AMD products."

"AMD's decision to license our Unitive lead free bumping technology is an indication of Amkor's technological leadership in advanced packaging applications," said Oleg Khaykin, EVP and COO of Amkor. "We are currently in discussion with other companies to foster broader industry adoption and support of our advanced Wafer Level Packaging technology."

Wafer bumping is the process of depositing tiny solder "bumps" onto fabricated semiconductor wafers and is a key step in creating flip chip-based IC packages. The growing adoption of flip chip packaging, coupled with the "Green" electronics movement, means that semiconductor manufacturers will increasingly turn to Pb-free wafer bumping technology.

The semiconductor industry is steadily migrating from high-lead alloy formulations to a Tin-Silver (SnAg) alloy as the "solder of choice" for electroplating bumps onto semiconductor wafers. Amkor continues its legacy of technology leadership as it developed a Pb-free plating solution in 2002 and has more than three years of high volume production experience on both 200mm and 300mm wafers serving a variety of markets including consumer electronics, mobile handsets, telecommunications and computing.

"Amkor's plated lead free technology is robust and production proven, particularly in the market for mobile electronics. To-date, our lead free technology has supported the production of more than 150 million devices for mobile applications," said Mike Barrow, SVP of Amkor's flip chip business unit.