Honeywell Expands Semiconductor Packaging Research and Development Facility and Capabilities

TEMPE, Ariz., Feb. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Honeywell (NYSE: HON) Electronic Materials announced today it will expand its Spokane, Wash.-based research and development center, which is dedicated to developing critical advanced packaging materials for semiconductor manufacturers, including thermal management, electrical interconnect and burn-in materials.

The announcement was made at the third annual Thermal Management Symposium presented by the Microelectronics Packaging and Test Engineering Council (MEPTEC), held in San Jose, Calif. Honeywell's leading thermal management expert is a featured presenter at the event, which explores potential solutions to thermal management challenges in the semiconductor manufacturing industry.

As part of the expansion, Honeywell will invest more than $1 million in the facility and equipment. The project, to be completed by the end of 2007, will add approximately 85 new pieces of state-of-the-art equipment, allowing for, among other things, expanded and enhanced thermal interface material mixing and characterization, analytical and application testing, thermal and reliability testing, and failure analysis. The expansion will also include a complete metrology lab, allowing Honeywell to replicate customer manufacturing obstacles and test for solutions.

"Honeywell is committed to developing next-generation materials that help semiconductor manufacturers manage the tremendous heat put off by advanced microchips," said Rebecca Liebert, vice president and general manager of Honeywell Electronic Materials. "Overcoming this challenge is crucial to allowing manufacturers to make chips ever more powerful and smaller."

Semiconductor packaging is crucial for the success of semiconductors in end use devices such as desktop computers, laptops, phones, and PDAs. Packaging materials include materials that connect the chip to the end-use device (electrical interconnect), those that transfer and dissipate the heat produced by the chip (thermal management) and those that are used to test the chips ability to perform (burn-in).

Thermal management is a particular concern for the semiconductor industry. Higher power but smaller semiconductors generate massive heat flux, which is the amount of heat traveling across a certain surface in a certain amount of time. The heat flux of today's chips is similar to that experienced by the tiles of the space shuttle upon re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. Unless this heat flux is addressed, chip performance can be reduced or the chip's lifespan could by shortened.

Honeywell is one of the leading material suppliers to the semiconductor industry, especially in the area of thermal management. Last year, Honeywell introduced a new screen-printable phase change material to give customers more flexibility in managing heat flux. Phase change materials are heat conductors which change phase from a solid, to a semi-solid or liquid state, allowing them to fill the micro-gaps between the chip and the material and thus provide more effective and efficient heat transfer. The new material, Honeywell PCM45F-SP phase change material, allows customer to apply the material in a wide variety of different shapes, depending upon the screen print design used by the manufacturer to lay out the design of the semiconductor chip. The product was honored with a best product award from a leading thermal management trade publication at the 2006 SEMICON West tradeshow.

Honeywell Electronic Materials is a global leader in the supply of innovative materials to the semiconductor industry, providing solutions to our customers' manufacturing challenges. Honeywell's expertise in both chemistry and metallurgy and commitment to disciplined quality processes enable the development of superior, cutting-edge technologies that are now being introduced to the flat panel display (FPD), photovoltaic and printable electronics marketplaces. More information can be found at http://www.honeywell.com/em/.

Honeywell International is a $31 billion diversified technology and manufacturing leader, serving customers worldwide with aerospace products and services; control technologies for buildings, homes and industry; automotive products; turbochargers; and specialty materials. Based in Morris Township, N.J., Honeywell's shares are traded on the New York, London, Chicago and Pacific Stock Exchanges. It is one of the 30 stocks that make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average and is also a component of the Standard & Poor's 500 Index. For additional information, please visit http://www.honeywell.com/.

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