My Place

Shah Alam, Malaysia

In Malaysia, a second production facility was established in 1991 in order to increase the production capacity and reduce the retail price of the machines. Early 2006 an additional building, next to the old one was opened, expanding the capacity of the plant significantly.

Company Profile

Fico is a product division of BE Semiconductor Industries N.V., which is publicly listed as BESI on EURONEXT (Amsterdam, the Netherlands). Fico produces molding systems, trim & form equipment, laser markers, laser deflashers, laser singulation and saw singulation systems for leadframe and array connect substrates.

The Fico molding equipment is used to encapsulate semiconductor devices in epoxy resins to protect them from environmental influences.
With the trim & form equipment, the metallic leads of the encapsulated devices are cut and formed for placement on a printed circuit board or in other sockets. Trimming and forming is the final step in the manufacturing process of a semiconductor. The procedure requires a high degree of precision, particularly with the increasing adoption of smaller devices with thinner and more numerous leads that can easily be misformed or broken during the process.
In the newer generation of semiconductors, using array connect technology, the molded substrates are singulated into individual packages. This can either be done with a saw singulation system or, for irregular shapes or high density products, by means of laser singulation (depaneling).
A laser marker can be a part of a trim & form line or can be used separately with just a loader and offloader. The laser deflasher can also en incorporated in a trim & form line to smoothly remove any flash from the molded products.

Fico creates exceptional customer value by offering ultimate reliability and productivity, excellent customer service, extreme precision and high production yields. The flexibility of the systems permits both high volume production of devices and small production runs of specialized chips. At the same time the sophisticated features of the equipment enable it to support the introduction of new packages. Fico is headquartered in Duiven (the Netherlands), and operates service centers in Europe, the USA and Asia

Fico machines have a proven reputation for innovation, quality, reliability and high volume output. Based on experience dating back several decades, each system is designed to meet the challenges of today's ever more demanding manufacturing processes and volumes. The systems will significantly increase yields, whilst keeping cost of ownership low. On top of this, our process knowledge and support assist you in improving your current processes and can contribute to the introduction of new packages. For Fico improvement is essential. Good is not good enough.

Company history

Fico, founded in 1956 by Stef Fierkens, started as a toolshop in Herwen. In the years following, the Fico, founded in 1956 by Stef Fierkens, started as a toolshop in Herwen. In the years following, the Fico company was one of the first to embark on the manufacture of molds for encapsulation of micro-electronic and other small precision devices. In the seventies Fico started to focus on the emerging semiconductor industry. Fico expanded significantly to become one of the leaders on the molding, trim & form and singulation market.


In the nineties Fico became a subsidiary of BE Semiconductor Industries (Besi). As the name Fico is very well know in the market, it remained to be used as the company name. The brand name Fico is still to be found on all products.

Seventies

Throughout the seventies into the mid eighties, the industry standard for transfer molding techniques was the multi chase mold. This mold was mounted on a transfer molding press with clamping pressures ranging from 75 to 200 metric tons. For encapsulation of the different package types in large lot sizes the emphasis was on high output and low overall production costs. Epoxy savings were a significant factor as was the exchangeability of wear parts in molds. The product life cycle was relatively long. Besides minimum long term investments, material usage and cost of ownership were determining factors as well. The Fico mold design, that proved to be the most economical, was the one that enabled exchange of wear parts in the field requiring zero growth capability throughout its lifetime. The techniques used led to yields of 99.9%.
By the end of seventies Fico was the first to introduce a fully automatic trim & form system; the Fico BEL (Back End Line) into the market. Soon to be followed by other automatic systems, anticipating on and following market trends.

Eighties

In the early eighties Fico introduced the multiplunger molding technique. This resulted in high volume process automation on high level machines. By following the trend of decreased lot sizes, system concepts with lower volume throughputs were produced. Since the eighties, the increased die size with larger circuits meant more leads on a package, implying overall tighter specifications on the molded package and leadframe material. The impact of the package design on handling of the products further down the assembly and test line, led to different requirements for transfer molding and trim & form equipment. By this time the two product groups were split into separate companies, but both stil using the Fico name.

In the late eighties, an intensified growth of more complex, higher leadcount devices took place. The emphasis was world wide on high volume systems, meaning roughly 500 strips per hour, with fast cure compounds. But two different trends in packaging could be distinguished: the low and the high volume production. The low volume range consisted of high leadcount, more complex packages with a forecasted short product life cycle. In order to respond to this market demand, Fico developed systems with a higher degree of flexibility to accommodate different product types. Another development was a complete new range of low volume, 100 strips per hour systems, with a short product change over time.

Nineties

In the early nineties Fico introduced a new generation of automatic molding and trim & form systems, with an electromechanical drive and greater reliability and flexibility. The modular approach of these systems guaranteed a broad and flexible field of use. These systems eliminate the contamination risks associated with hydraulic fluids and can therefore be used in clean room environments.

Due to integration of other processes that the traditional trim & forming process, other process steps where developed such as lasermarking, vision inspection, final product testing in strip.
For the newer generation of semiconductors using array connect technology in which the molded substrates are singulated into individually packages through specialized sawing machines and through new cutting techniques by means of laser technology.

Package production volume has increased from 400 package types in the late nineties to over a thousand in the coming years, for both leadframe and array connect devices. In a short time the micro-electronics industry has shown a rapid and sustained growth. So has Fico; for each new generation in semiconductor devices, it has developed new production systems, meeting the demands of the top of the industry.

The 20th century

After the turn of the century, the two Ficos were re-joined in the same building, but still functioning as individual companies. And in 2006 both molding and trim & form were joined again into one Fico, followed in 2007 by Fico Singulation. In 2006 Fico celebrated its 50th anniversary. With this anniversary, Fico is one of the long time runners in the semiconductor industry.