Rob de Heus | Materials Development Manager, NXP Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Careful planning, a bit of detective work, and some serious ingenuity - that‘s how Rob de Heus and his colleagues in materials management succeeded in raising the bar for environmental friendliness, with a new series of products called “Dark Green.”
It started with a request from some of our leading customers in the mobilephone segment. Concerned about the disposability of their products, they were looking to replace two of the flame retardants used in IC packaging, halogen and antimony oxide.
Rob‘s group took the challenge and began collaborating with all the parties involved. “We worked very closely with our customers, our suppliers, our industrial sites, and our marketing teams to find a better alternative,” says Rob.
Changing the chemical formula in a semiconductor product is no easy task. The manufacturing process is extremely delicate and complex, so making even a minor change can have a serious impact. Once Rob‘s group had a candidate for the replacement compound, there was still plenty of work ahead. The test and qualification process can take up to two years to complete, since the new substance “has to work with our existing machinery and has to meet our high standards for quality and reliability.”
In the end, Rob‘s group delivered a new kind of packaging, called Dark Green, that doesn‘t use halogen or antimony oxide and, as an added bonus, is more resistant to moisture. It doesn‘t require dry-pack processing, which involves drying the package and sealing it in plastic, so that delivers an added saving on energy and resources.
Taking the challenge a step further, Rob‘s group continued to work with suppliers and internal NXP groups to lower the cost of the new packaging. The latest Dark Green products use smaller ICs, so they can be housed in smaller packages, and semiconductor manufacturers don‘t have to pay a cost penalty for greener products. “Miniaturization is truly a team effort,” says Rob, and “key to our success, since less silicon means lower cost, fewer materials, lower power consumption, and, best of all, less impact on the environment.”
Formal legislation restricting halogen and antimony oxide is now under discussion and NXP, as a leader in the field, is providing technical expertise that will help legislators make informed decisions.