According to Taiwanese publication DigiTimes, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is planning to shift back to 8-inch fab to produce the Touch ID fingerprint sensor for iPhone 6.
Last month, DigiTimes had reported that TSMC would begin production of fingerprint sensors for Apple’s next-generation iPhone at its 12-inch fab from its 8-inch fab using a 65nm process in the second quarter of 2014.
The Taiwanese publication now claims that Apple decided to use the 8-inch fab again, as it had concerns with the yield rates of the 12-inch wafer-level packaging (WLP).
Apple previously decided to have TSMC produce fingerprint sensors for its next-generation iPhone at the foundry’s 12-inch facilities using a 65nm process, the sources noted. However, acknowledging risks associated with 12-inch WLP technologies, Apple has finally chosen TSMC’s 8-inch processing which enables mature yield rates for WLP to produce the fingerprint sensors, the sources said.
The report notes that this would mean that TSMC would have to sub-contract the packaging process to Xintec and China WLCSP, instead of handling the backend wafer-level chip-scale packaging (WL-CSP) process in-house, which would have been possible at its 12-inch fab.
When Apple launched the iPhone 5s back in September 2013, the supply was limited as the yield rate for the Touch ID fingerprint sensor was unsatisfactory. However, TSMC managed to refine the process and has been able to achieve yield rates of 95%. DigiTimes claims that according to their sources yield rates for WLP at TSMC’s facilities at the Southern Taiwan Science Park (STSP) stay between 70% and 80%.
Check out our detailed roundup of all the rumors and speculations about iPhone 6 so far.
[Via DigiTimes]
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