Tom's Hardware Visits STMicroelectronics In Rennes, France

[Guest]

"French factory," they say, is almost an oxymoron. When was the last time you saw a news story about the success of a manufacturing plant in the land of Beaujolais and Brie? Our French team took a tour of STMicro's operation in Rennes and reports back.

Tom's Hardware Visits STMicroelectronics In Rennes, France : Read more

 

[Scionyde]

"The poor overall economic picture and pessimistic approach newspapers like to take in speaking of the electronics industry in France would lead you to think that that scenario is utopian at best."

Maybe I'm missing something obvious, but isn't 'utopian' the exact opposite of the word you were intending to use there?

 

[vancedecker]

This is really cool. A totally unexpected article in the swamp of cell phone reviews and press releases, on other sites...

 

[blackmagnum]

Vive la France !

 

[army_ant7]

@Scionyde
I'm thinking that "utopian" was used in a way to mean something highly unachievable, unlikely, or unfeasible. I'm not sure how that would apply though and I can't speak for the author. I'm not sure if this helps explain that...

 

[jasonelmore]

well written article. Keep more content like this coming.

 

[vaughn2k]

"Once the die is mounted in its case, the wires must be soldered to connect the chip and the pins. This operation can seem archaic compared with the processors used in PCs or smartphones, whose dies are connected via direct contact with bumps on their epoxy carriers." - The wire is not soldered to the pins but welded using an ultrasonic force + power - or Ultrasonic wirebonding. The head of the tool where the wire (either it is an Al or Au wire) comes out, generates this combination of ulrasonic energy to be able to connect the die pad and pins. If an Au wire is used, the process adds a thermal property, which is also called thermosonic bonding. CPU and smart phone chips (and virtually all chips) uses the same process. However, most assembly uses Au wire or Cu wire, instead of Al wire. Another process that is used o intorconnect chips to substrate is called flip-chip bonding, or soldering or ILB (inner lead bonding), and then going into the process of underfilling, to protect these interconnects.

 

[vaughn2k]

"The testing also checks for the presence of particles inside the packages" - It is called PIND test (Particle Impact Noise Detection). It is in MIL-STD 883E method 2020.8 -- 😉

 

[vaughn2k]

damn this refesh button..... 🙁 sorry for the double post..

 

[WyomingKnott]

What double-post? I don't see one.

More practically, you should be able to delete your own post by going to the forum version of the comments. Click on the blue icon with quotation marks, full-edit the duplicate post, and there should be a delete button.

 

[Guest]

Hey, and what about Goodram? Isn't it the last european based manufacturer of ram, flash, ssd etc? Can you please make a small trip there as well?