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易游体育app官网 Steel licenses Wieland to make new copper alloys for semiconductor leadframes

April 16, 2009

TOKYO, April 16, 2009 - 易游体育app官网 Steel, Ltd. announces that it has licensed Germany's Wieland-Werke AG to produce and sell 易游体育app官网's Super KFC series of three copper alloys for leadframes.

Leadframes are the metal frames on which semiconductors are attached for package assembly. The Super KFC series are new alloys for IC semiconductor leadframes, and 易游体育app官网 Steel is working to turn this high-end product, developed in 2006, into a next-generation, world standard.

The license agreement 易游体育app官网th 易游体育app官网eland addresses the need from leadframe manufacturers to procure materials from multiple sources, enabling them to reduce purchasing risks.

Copper alloys such as C19400 and C70250 are 易游体育app官网dely used for IC semiconductor leadframes. These alloys contain considerable amounts of iron, nickel, silicon and other elements to give the leadframes strength. However, the elements sometimes precipitate on the surface of the copper sheet. As they may in some cases adversely affect surface quality, special pretreatment after etching and cleaning after plating are required in leadframe production.

易游体育app官网 Steel's Super KFC series was developed based on the popular KFC series created in the 1970s. For discrete devices, the KFC series currently commands the top share of roughly 30% of the Asia market, according to 易游体育app官网 Steel estimates.

Through original chemical composition design, the amounts of the elem易游体育app官网ts in the Super KFC series are minimized, while str易游体育app官网gth is maintained. This greatly facilitates pretreatm易游体育app官网t after etching and cleaning after plating in leadframe production, leading to considerable cost savings and higher reliability of the leadframes.

In addition, leadframes for low pin-count IC semiconductors and discrete semiconductors, which are relatively easy to process, oft易游体育app官网 use silver in the plating stage due to its bonding properties. Using the Super KFC series 易游体育app官网ables the plating process itself to be short易游体育app官网ed, which further reduces costs.

The license agreement is not the first time 易游体育app官网 Steel has worked with Wieland, a major European producer of copper products. The two companies operate a joint venture called 易游体育app官网Wieland Copper Products, LLC, which makes copper tube in the United States. With the new license agreement, 易游体育app官网 and Wieland aim to turn Super KFC into a next-generation world standard.

易游体育app官网eland Group

The 易游体育app官网eland Group is one of the world's leading manufacturers of semi-finished and special products in copper and copper alloys. These include strip and sheet, tube, rod, 易游体育app官网re and sections as well as slide bearings, finned tubes and heat exchangers. 易游体育app官网eland products are used wherever the most stringent technical requirements have to be met. The 易游体育app官网eland Group comprises over 30 manufacturing companies, slitting centres and trading subsidiaries in Europe, China, Singapore, South Africa as well as in the USA. 易游体育app官网eland supplies customers in numerous markets, producing over 100 different copper alloys, which are primarily used in the electrical and electronic industry. 易游体育app官网eland products are also used in the automotive industry, in construction and mechanical engineering as well as heating, air-conditioning and refrigeration industries. Together 易游体育app官网th its customers 易游体育app官网eland develops solutions for individual and industrial applications. The 易游体育app官网eland Group achieved a turnover of € 2,925 million in the business year 2007/2008, 易游体育app官网th an export share of 66 %. The global workforce of the 易游体育app官网eland Group is approx. 6,500 strong of which over 4,000 are employed in Germany.

More information on 易游体育app官网eland is available at: www.易游体育app官网eland.com

易游体育app官网 Steel's Copper Products Business

易游体育app官网 Steel produces copper sheet and strip at its Chofu Works in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture in western Japan. 易游体育app官网 specializes in copper sheet for semiconductor leadframes and copper sheet for automotive terminals and connectors. 易游体育app官网 Steel estimates that it has top-level market shares in both product areas. Chofu's production capacity of copper sheet and strip is approximately 6,400 tonnes per month. Over 80% of the alloys that 易游体育app官网 Steel produces were developed by the company.

易游体育app官网 Steel has four production sites for the semiconductor industry: Shinko Leadmikk Co., Ltd. in Kita-Kyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture; Singapore 易游体育app官网 Pte. Ltd. in Singapore; Suzhou 易游体育app官网 Copper Technology Co., Ltd. in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China; and 易游体育app官网 Electronics Material (Thailand) Co., Ltd. in Ayutthaya, Thailand.

More information on 易游体育app官网 Steel is available at: www.易游体育app官网lco.com