Category: Electronic Components

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Electronic Components

Carbon nanotubes being used to develop ‘Smart Clothes’

carbon nanotubes

Carbon nanotubes being used to develop 'smart clothes'

Since the discovery of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in 1991, the material has been utilised for commercial purposes in several areas, including anti-corrosion paints, hydrophobic coatings and engineering plastics.

CNTs were one of the materials that made it possible for two-dimensional graphene to be used and researched. On a broader scale, it allowed nanoscience to branch into its own area of study.

The material is made up of a cylindrical tube of carbon atoms, and can be single-walled or multi-walled. On a molecular level, CNTs are 100 times more robust than steel and a fraction of the weight.

But in the last ten years, there have been studies into how the material’s heat and electrical conductive qualities might be used in another everyday product: clothes.

Keeping warm

A recent study by North Carolina State University examined CNTs’ usage as a ‘smart fabric’ in 2020. The researchers investigated how its heating and cooling properties could be harnessed to make a cheaper alternative to the current thermoelectric materials being used.

The plan is to integrate the CNTs into the fabric of the clothes, rather than an extra layer, which means the flexible material has an advantage over others currently available on the market.

The low thermal conductivity of CNTs means that heat would not travel back to the wearer, and the same applies to cool air, when an external current is applied.

Heart racing yet?

 A study from seven years previously studied how CNTs could be used as a built-in electrocardiogram (ECG) within athletic wear. The nanotube fibres sewn into the clothes monitored heartrate and took a continual cardiogram from the wearer.

The Brown School of Engineering lab, who conducted the research, said the shirt would have to be a tight fit to make sure the material touched the skin, but the t-shirt was still – miraculously – machine-washable.

According to the researchers the enhances shirt actually performed better than a chest-strap monitor ECG when compared in a test, and could connect to Bluetooth devices to transmit the collected data.

Recharging…

In 2018 engineers from the University of Cincinnati, in partnership with the Wright-Patterson Air Force Research Laboratory, conducted a study into how CNT clothes could charge a phone.

This study investigated the applications of CNT clothes in the military, where it could be used to charge the electronics that form part of a soldier’s field equipment instead of weighty batteries. Using a similar technique to the other studies, where CNT fibres were sewn into the clothes.

Will it make fashion week?

Not quite yet. Despite the cheaper-by-comparison cost of the material, the quantity of material required for mass production is too high for what is currently available and is still relatively young and untested. The specialist equipment that would also be needed for CNT textile production would be an investment many manufacturers would decide against.

While CNTs may not be a hugely sought-after material just yet, Lantek can supply you with hard-to-find electronic components when you need them most. Contact us now at sales@lantekcorp.com to see how we can help you.

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Electronic Components

Upskilling and STEM investment: how to combat the semiconductor worker shortage

Thermal management

Upskilling and STEM investment: how to combat semiconductor worker shortage

Noticed that you’re waiting longer than usual for your electronic parts these days? You’re not the only one.

The lack of chips is considerably noticeable, but it’s also drawn attention to how desperate we are for more electronics workers. There’s a lack of highly skilled people in the tech sector right now, and with the States aiming to increase its share of semiconductor production, we’ll need to fill out this workforce fast.

But the experts have a few ideas up their sleeves, here’s what they think:

It’s a BIG industry

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) released a report in 2021 that said for every US worker directly employed in the semiconductor industry in 2020, another 5.7 jobs were supported. This means that two years ago at least 1.85 million jobs were supported, either directly or indirectly, by the sector.

The 277,000 people that work specifically in the sector, in manufacturing, design, testing and research, are enabling around 300 downstream sectors, according to the report.

Upskilling/Reskilling

As the electronics industry is constantly changing and evolving it might be difficult for longer-serving employees to be equipped with currently relevant skills. The increasing automation of production lines, while efficient for manufacturers, requires highly skilled workers for operation and maintenance. Therefore, the upskilling and reskilling of employees is essential.

In another SIA report, in collaboration with Oxford Economics, the association said that only 20% of employees in the semiconductor industry actually attended university in 2019. To add to this, the higher-skilled members of the STEM sectors were more likely to go on to work for consultancy or investment firms. Giving the current workforce the option to upskill, and the potential extra wages that would come with it, might be an easy and enticing way to bulk up the thin-on-the-ground areas of employment.

Similarly, giving skilled workers the chance to re-specialize within their areas of expertise could ease the shortage relatively simply.

International talent

Joint workforce development may also be an avenue for investment. The US’s international partners could well help bridge the gap in the electronics industry, something that the 2019 European METIS initiative explored.

The electronics industry project, co-funded by the student exchange programme Erasmus+, looked to fund the education, professional mobility and recognition of electronics industry qualifications. The project aimed to encourage international students to study and work in the sector in different countries.

Employees and Incentives

It’s probably no surprise that there are more men in electronics manufacturing, with the US Bureau of Statistics saying that women made up less than 30% of the sector in 2021. The majority of women were white, with approximately two in five women being Asian or Hispanic. Black or African American females were the most underrepresented at about 4%

Students are another source of untapped potential. Thankfully, the new semiconductor legislation that could soon be signed into law will increase funding for STEM students. The US Innovation and Competition Act, passed by the Senate last year, promised $5 billion in scholarships for STEM-specializing students, $8 billion for workforce programs and almost $10 billion for university technology centers and innovation institutes.

These employee groups might be ideal targets for recruitment and development in the industry, and since the CHIPS Act promises so many additional jobs in the next four years, employers better get on it!

But you don’t need to worry until then. Thankfully when it comes to electronic parts, Lantek always has your back. Talk to us today at sales@lantekcorp.com and we’ll help you find what you’re looking for.

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Electronic Components

The process of making silicon semiconductors

silicon semiconductors

The process of making silicon semiconductors

As the global shortage of semiconductors (also called chips) continues, what better time is there to read up on how these intricate, tiny components are made?

One of the reasons the industry can’t catch up with the heightened demand for chips is that creating them takes huge amounts of time and precision. From the starting point of refining quartz sand, to the end product of a tiny chip with the capacity to hold thousands of components, let’s have a quick walkthrough of it all:

Silicon Ingots

Silicon is the most common semiconductor material currently used, and is normally refined from the naturally-occurring material silicon dioxide (SiO₂) or, as you might know it, quartz.

Once the silicon is refined and becomes hyper pure, it is heated to 1420˚C which is above its melting point. Then a single crystal, called the seed, is dipped into the molten mixture and slowly pulled out as the liquid silicon forms a perfect crystalline structure around it. This is the start of our wafers.

Slicing and Cleaning

The large cylinder of silicon is then cut into very fine slices with a diamond saw, and further polished so they are at a perfect thickness to be used in integrated circuits (ICs). This polishing process is undertaken in a clean room, where workers have to wear suits that will not collect particles and will cover their whole body. Even a single speck of dirt could ruin the wafers, so the clean room only allows up to 100 particles per cubic foot of air.

Photolithography

In this stage the silicon is covered with a layer of material called a photoresist, and is then put under a UV light mask to create the pattern of circuits on the wafer. Some of the photoresist layer is washed away by a solvent, and the remaining photoresist is stamped onto the silicon to produce the pattern.

Fun fact – The yellow light often seen in pictures of semiconductor fabs is in the lithography rooms. The photoresist material is sensitive to high frequency light, which is why UV is used to make it soluble. To avoid damaging the rest of the wafer, low frequency yellow light is used in the room.

The process of photolithography can be repeated many times to create the required outlines on each wafer, and it is at this stage that the outline of each individual rectangular chip is printed onto the wafer too.

Layering

The fine slices are stacked on top of each other to form the final ICs, with up to 30 unique wafers being used in sequence to create a single computer chip. The outlines of the chips are then cut to separate them from the wafer, and packaged individually to protect them.

The final product

Due to this convoluted, delicate process, the time take to manufacture a single semiconductor is estimated to take up to four months. This, and the specialist facilities that are needed to enable production, results in an extreme amount of care needing to be taken throughout fabrication.

If you’re struggling to source electronic components during this shortage, look no further than Cyclops Electronics. Cyclops specialises in both regular and hard-to-find components. Get in touch now to see how easy finding stock should be, at sales@cyclops-electronics.com.

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Electronic Components

The History of Transistors

Transistors

The History of Transistors

Transistors are a vital, ubiquitous electronic component. Their main function is to switch or amplify the electrical current in a circuit, and a modern device like a smartphone can contain between 2 and 4 billion transistors.

So that’s some modern context, but have you ever wondered when the transistor was invented? Or what it looked like?

Pre-transistor technology

Going way back to when Ohm’s Law was first discovered in 1820s, people had been aware of circuits and the flow of current. As an extension of this, there was an awareness of conductors.

Following on from this, semiconductors accompanied the birth of the AC-DC (alternating current – direct current) conversion device, the rectifier, in 1874.

Two patents were filed in the 20s and 30s for devices that would have been transistors if they had ever reached past the theoretical stage. In 1925 Julius Lilienfeld of Austria-Hungary filed a patent, but did not end up releasing any papers regarding his research on the field-effect transistor, and so his discoveries were ignored.

Again, in 1934 German physicist Oskar Heil’s patent was on a device that, by applying an electrical field, could control the current in a circuit. With only theoretical ideas, this also did not become the first field effect transistor.

The invention of transistors

The official invention of a working transistor was in 1947, and the device was announced a year later in 1948. The inventors were three physicists working at Bell Telephone Laboratories in New Jersey, USA. William Shockley, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain were part of a semiconductor research subgroup working out of the labs.

One of the first attempts they made at a transistor was Shockley’s semiconductor triode, which was made up of three electrodes, an emitter, a collector and a large low-resistance contact placed on a block of germanium. However, the semiconductor surface trapped electrons, which blocked the main channel from the effect of the external field.

Despite this initial idea not working out, the issue was solved in 1946. After spending some time looking into three-layer structures featuring a reversed and forward-biased junction, they returned to their project on field-effect devices in a year later in 1947. At the end of that year, they found that with two very close contact junctions, with one forward biased and one reverse biased, there would be a slight gain.

The first working transistor featured a strip of gold over a triangle of plastic, finely cut with a razor at the tip to create two contact points with a hair’s breadth between them and placed on top of a block of germanium.

The device was announced in June of 1948 as the transistor – a mix of the words ‘transconductance’, ‘transfer’ and ‘varistor’.

The French connection

At the same time over the water in France, two German physicists working for Compagnie des Freins et Signaux were at a similar stage in the development of a point contact device, which they went on to call the ‘transistron’ when it was released.  

Herbert Mataré and Heinrich Welker released the transistron a few months after the Bell Labs transistor was announced but was engineered completely without influence by their American counterpart due to the secrecy around the Bell project.

Where we are now

The first germanium transistors were used in computers as a replacement for their predecessor vacuum tubes, and transistor car radios were produced all within only six years of its invention.

The first transistor was made with germanium, but since the material can’t withstand heats of more than 180˚F (82.2˚C), in 1954 Bell Labs switched to silicon. Later that year Texas Instruments began mass-producing silicon transistors.

First silicon transistor made in 1954 by Bell Labs, then Texas Instruments made first commercial mass produced silicon transistor the same year. Six years later in 1960 the first in the direct bloodline of modern transistors was made, again by Bell Labs – the metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect Transistor (MOSFET).

Between then and now, most transistor technology has been based on the MOSFET, with the size shrinking from 40 micrometres when they were first invented, to the current average being about 14 nanometres.

The latest in transistor technology is called the RibbonFET. The technology was announced by Intel in 2021, and is a transistor whose gate surrounds the channel. The tech is due to come into use in 2024 when Intel change from nanometres to, the even smaller measuring unit, Angstrom.

There is also other tech that is being developed as the years march on, including research into the use of 2D materials like graphene.

If you’re looking for electronic components, Lantek are here to help. Contact us at sales@Lantekcorp.com to order hard-to-find or obsolete electronic components. You can also use the rapid enquiry form on our website https://www.cyclops-electronics.com/

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Electronic Components

The use of robotics in electronics manufacturing

The use of robotics in electronics manufacturing

The use of robotics in electronics manufacturing

The use of robotics as part of the manufacturing chain has increased in recent years, as more companies move towards automation of their services.

Robotics can limit the amount of human error possible in a production process, and can operate in confined spaces, and can even test equipment to check functionality or identify issues.

The dark side

Don’t worry, it’s not as evil as it sounds. The use of robotics is sometimes called the ‘lights out’ concept, because robots can work without requiring light. One company in Japan is pioneering this way of working.

The manufacturer uses a majority robot workforce, with almost no human intervention, to produce more manufacturing robots for their customer base, which includes Apple and Tesla.

Of course, not all manufacturers employ so many robots that they can just switch off the lights at their plants, but there are several places in the production line that robotics could speed up the manufacturing process, and many larger manufacturers have already implemented automation to a degree.

Robot wars

There are several different types of robots that are used in production, the most regular until recently being the Selective Compliance Assembly Robot Arm (SCARA). Other types include 6-Axis articulated arms, delta and cartesian robots.

Each robot has its own advantages and disadvantages, and as such depending on the task certain robots are a better choice than others.

SCARAs and 6-Axis robots are both robotic arms that are used for their high precision and speed. Although a 6-Axis is slightly slower, it has more flexibility and has a higher load capacity than the more traditional SCARA.

Delta robots have been used in the food and consumer goods sector for years, mainly for picking and packing purposes. They can function at a very high speed and have good repeatability, so they are a good choice for the assembly of electrical components.

Cartesian robots work on only three axes, but are smaller, simpler, and cheaper than other manufacturing robots. Cartesians may be a good fit for smaller businesses, who have limited production space and have to consider a more multipurpose or customisable robot.

Testing, testing

Robots are not only great for manufacturing, they can also help in the inspection of products. Robots that feature mounted cameras can check electronics to ensure they have been assembled correctly with no issues with the alignment or soldering. Automated optical inspections (AOI) and automated x-ray inspections can be performed with these robots. If an arm mounted with an infrared camera is used, it can check hotspots on a circuit board or other thermal issues with the circuitry.

There is a distinct possibility that the future holds even further automation, and with the current shortage in electronic components many manufacturers hope that this will go some way to helping production.

Lantek are specialists in hard-to-find and obsolete components. If you’re struggling for stock or want to check out what electronic components we can supply to you, contact us at sales@lantekcorp.com. Or use the rapid enquiry form on our website.

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Electronic Components Semiconductor

The CHIPS for America act

The CHIPS for America act

The CHIPS for America act

The Biden-Harris administration is trying to bring semiconductor development home to the US.

Once a superpower in the chip-making industry, America’s share of the semiconductor market has plummeted from 37% in the 1990s to only 12% this decade.

The demand for chips is constantly increasing and production cannot keep up, it’s left us all wondering when we’ll manage to get a PS5 and a new car.

The majority of the US’s chips are sourced from Asian countries like China, Japan, and Taiwan, whose Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) sells the most chips globally.

But then when the pandemic hit, the US chip stocks fell. As outbreaks overseas caused factory closures, it became more and more difficult to get hold of the stock suppliers were looking for. The closures and delays led to raw materials and logistics increasing in price too, making the whole situation pretty dire.

Suddenly, finding affordable stock that would arrive swiftly and safely was much harder than it used to be, and it showed. A report from the US commerce department said the chip shortage was hitting the country hard, all while demand rose by 17% from 2019 to 2021.

The Senate passed an act in June 2021 called the US Innovation and Competition Act (USICA), which detailed several initiatives to increase technological autonomy. This included the ‘Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors’ (CHIPS) Act, which would allocate $52 billion for domestic semiconductor research, design, and manufacturing.

The act’s House of Representatives equivalent was passed by the Senate on February 4th 2022 titled the ‘America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing Pre-Eminence in Technology and Economic Strength’ (America COMPETES) Act. The package, worth $250 billion, would invest in the improvement of domestic manufacturing and research.

The act will encourage investment for the building of new fabs, create incentives for manufacturers who want to upscale their equipment, and will provide funds to improve research and communications in the semiconductor field.

Aside from these incentives, Intel also pledged $100 million to fund partnerships with universities located near its new factory to “build a pipeline of worker talent and bolster research programs in the region”.  

One of the driving factors to increase the domestic stock of chips is the rise in production of Electric Vehicles (EVs). The current administration wants to raise the number of EVs being produced so they make up half the cars in production by 2030. However, a typical EV will need twice the amount of chips a regular car takes at around 2,000.

The America COMPETES Act will also contribute funds to the improvement of Homeland Security, a move that has been welcomed by industry leaders. President Joe Biden received a letter early last year from professionals in the security sector, showing their support for funding the production and design of semiconductors. A supply of domestic chips would no doubt benefit this sector, as chips are used in security devices and infrastructure.

The two houses are expected to discuss the reconciliation of the act by conference committee later in February.

Despite the current shortages, Lantek are here to help. We have a range of day-to-day and obsolete electronic parts to suit your needs and will go the extra mile to help. Send us your enquiries today at sales@lantekcorp.com.

 

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Electronic Components

Latest electronic component factory openings

electronic component factory openings

Latest electronic component factory openings

We’ve all heard about the shortages in standard components like semiconductors and chips. Cars, phones and computers, items we use every day, are no longer being produced at the speedy rate we’ve come to expect. The cause of this shortage is, in part, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

To combat this shortage many electronic component manufacturers have announced the opening or development of new factories. This is especially noticeable in Europe and America, where production has often been outsourced to Asia in the past.

So who are the latest companies expanding operations, and how much are they spending? Check out our quick run-down of factories and when they should open:

Company: Intel

Location: Ohio, USA

Product: Chips

Completion date: 2025

Cost: $20 billion (£14.7 billion)

The latest, and possibly greatest, announcement on our list comes from Intel. The corporation revealed in January that they would be committing to building two chip manufacturing plants in New Albany, Ohio. The move is said to be due to supply chain issues with Intel’s manufacturers in Asia, and should boost the American industry with the creation of at least 3,000 jobs. Construction should begin this year.

Company: Samsung Electronics

Location: Texas, USA

Product: Semiconductors

Completion date: 2024

Cost: $17billion (£12.5billion)

The household name announced late last year that they would begin work on a new semiconductor-manufacturing plant in Taylor, Texas. The Korean company stated the project was Samsung’s largest single investment in America, and is due to be operational by the middle of 2024.

Company: Infineon

Location: Villach, Austria

Product: Chips

Completion date: 2021

Cost: €1.6 billion (£1.3 billion)

After being in construction since 2018, Infineon’s Austrian plant became operational in September last year. The chip factory for power electronics, also called energy-saving chips, on 300-millimeter tin wafers began shipping three months ahead of schedule in 2021, and its main customer base will be in the automotive industry.

Company: Northvolt

Location: Gdańsk, Poland

Product: Batteries

Completion date: 2022

Cost: $200 million (£148 million)

The Swedish battery manufacturer is expanding its operations with a new factory in Poland. While initial operations are supposed to begin this year producing 5 GWh of batteries, it hopes to further develop to produce 12 GWh in future. Northvolt has also just begun operations at its new battery factory in Skellefteå in Sweden.

Company: Vingroup

Location: Hà Tĩnh, Vietnam

Product: Batteries

Completion date: 2022

Cost: $174 million (£128 million)

The Vietnamese electric vehicle manufacturer is due to start production at its new factory later this year, where it will produce lithium batteries for its electric cars and buses. The factory will be designed to produce 10,000 battery packs per year initially, but in a second phase the manufacturer said it will upgrade to 1 million battery packs annually. VinFast, a member of Vingroup, is also planning on expanding operations to America and Germany.

Company: EMD Electronics

Location: Arizona, USA

Product: Gas and chemical delivery systems

Completion date: 2022

Cost: $28 million (£20.7 million)

The member of the multinational Merck Group is expanding operations with the construction of a new factory in Phoenix, Arizona, to manufacture equipment for its Delivery Systems & Services business. The factory is due to be operational by the end of the year, and will produce GASGUARD and CHEMGUARD systems for the company.

A bright future

These electronic component factory openings signal a great increase in business, and will aide in the easing of the component crisis. But it will take a while for these fabs to be operational.

Can’t wait? Lantek is there for all your electronic component needs. We have 30 years of expertise, and can help you where other suppliers cannot. Whether it’s day-to-day or obsolete electronic components, contact us today at sales@lantekcorp.com, or use the rapid enquiry form on our website.

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Electronic Components

Electronic component market to see continued growth by 2027

Electronic component market to see continued growth by 2027

Electronic component market to see continued growth by 2027

The electronic component market is set to see continued growth over the next five years, with projections estimating greater demand than ever.

Several forecasts have converged with the same conclusion; demand for components is set to rocket as the world adopts more advanced technologies. 

This article will explore the latest research papers and market analysis from reputable sources. We will also explore why the demand for electronic components is set to soar and the supply chain’s challenges. 

Global components market 

The market analysis covered by Market Watch predicts that the global electronic components market will reach USD 600.31 billion by 2027, from USD 400.51 billion in 2020, a compound annual growth rate of 4.7% from 2021. 

Active components market 

Another market report, this time looking at active electronic components, predicts the active electronic components market will reach USD 519 billion by 2027 (£380bn pounds, converted 12/01/22), a CAGR of 4.82% from 2021. 

Passive and interconnecting components market 

According to 360 Research Reports, the passive and interconnecting electronic components market is projected to reach USD 35.89 billion in 2027, up from USD 28.79 billion in 2020, a compound annual growth rate of 3.2% from 2021. 

Semiconductor wafer market 

According to Research and Markets, the global semiconductor wafer market is predicted to reach USD 22.03 billion by 2027, rising at a market growth of 4.6% CAGR during the forecast period starting from 2021. 

Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) market

Market Reports World predicts the global DRAM market will see extreme growth, growing at a CAGR of 9.86% between 2021 and 2027. The market was valued at USD 636.53 million in 2021 and will grow to nearly USD 700 million by 2027.  

Why is component demand set to increase so much?

The world is undergoing an extreme technological transformation that began with the first computers. Today, electronics are everywhere, and they are becoming ever more intricate and complex, requiring more and more components. 

Several technologies are converging, including semi-autonomous and electric vehicles, automation and robotics, 5G and internet upgrades, consumer electronics, and smart home appliances like EV chargers and hubs. 

This is a global transformation, from your house to the edge of the earth. Electronic components are seeing unprecedented demand because smarter, more capable devices are required to power the future. 

What challenges does the supply chain face? 

The two biggest challenges are shortages and obsolescence. 

Shortages are already impacting supply chains, with shortages of semiconductors, memory, actives, passives, and interconnecting components. 

As demand increases, supply will struggle to keep up. It will be the job of electronic components suppliers like Lantek and electronic component manufacturers to keep supply chains moving while demanding increases. 

Obsolescence refers to electronic components becoming obsolete. While some electronic components have lifespans of decades, others are replaced within a few years, which puts pressure on the supply chain from top to bottom. Email your inquiries to us today at sales@lantekcorp.com. Our specialized team is here to help.

In any case, the future is exciting, and the electronic components market will tick along as it always does. We’ll be here to keep oiling the machine. 

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Electronic Components

Obsolescence Management Before It Becomes A Problem

Obsolescence Management

Obsolescence Management Before It Becomes A Problem

Like the device you are reading this on, all electronic components become obsolete eventually. As a supply chain manager, it is your job to manage obsolescence and make sure it doesn’t become a problem for your company.

The three reasons for electronic component obsolescence are short product life cycles, innovation, and increased demand.

Short product life cycles fuel update cycles that demand better components, innovation fuels new component releases, and increased demand squeezes supply chains, creating new batches of components that replace the old.

The good news is obsolescence management isn’t rocket science. With planning, you can safeguard your supply chain from the inevitable. Cyclops can help you do this in various ways, working with you to keep your supply chains moving.

How Cyclops helps you manage obsolescence 

With technologies advancing rapidly, the rate of electronic component obsolescence is picking up pace. Life cycles are getting shorter for many components, and shortages are challenging obsolescence management plans.

At Cyclops Electronics, we specialise in the procurement of electronic components, working with global distributors to source tens of millions of parts. Our staff go further than most to find your obsolete parts, and if we can’t source the exact parts you need, we will work just as hard to find appropriate alternatives. 

Here’s how we help you manage obsolescence:

Proactive planning

We keep tabs on component supplies for you and provide timely reports detailing risks. By keeping you in the loop, you get a bird’s eye view of your electronic components, giving you a competitive edge and greater buying power.

Obsolete component sourcing 

Obsolete components might no longer be made, but we hold 177,232 line items in our warehouse and 14 million parts globally. There’s a strong possibility we have the obsolete, discontinued components you need ready to go.

Equivalents 

When obsolete components are unavailable, we can specify equivalents that meet your performance and financial specifications. We can cross-reference many components, such as semiconductors, to find exact equivalents.

Integrated advice 

We can help you identify and mitigate risk when parts and spares become obsolete by integrating with your mitigation plan. We can replace obsolete parts as they age, providing an automated, streamlined obsolescence solution.

Obsolescence is inevitable but manageable 

Component obsolescence occurs when an old component is phased out. Without management, this event can disrupt a supply chain, costing businesses tens of millions (or billions) in lost revenues and corporate costs.

A great example of this is any company that manufactures equipment and supports it over several years, like a boiler company. Electric boilers are supported for around ten years, so the components have to be replaceable over that time.

Obsolescence is a problem because it sends ripples through the supply chain, requiring ongoing management to foresee events and mitigate risks. Cyclops Electronics has seen all this before across all sectors.

Speak with us about obsolescence management 

We’re here to help you manage supply chain risks and deal with obsolescence before it becomes a problem. Contact us here.

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component shortage Electronic Components

Semiconductor Supply Chain Will Remain Vulnerable Without Robust Investment in Advanced Packaging

semiconductor

Semiconductor supply chain will remain vulnerable without advanced packaging investment

A new U.S. study has found that the advanced semiconductor packaging supply chain needs strengthening to meet the increasing demand for chips.

According to the report, without robust federal investment, the semiconductor supply chain in the U.S. faces an uphill battle to meet demand.

The study also highlights the crucial role of advanced packaging in driving innovation in semiconductor designs. At present, most of the chips in the U.S. are sent abroad for packaging and assembly into finished products. By moving packaging to North America, the entire electronics ecosystem can be improved.

The big players in the U.S. include Applied Materials, Amkor Technology, Ayar Labs, Lam Research, Microsemi Semiconductor and KLA-Tencor Corporation. These companies have seen unprecedented demand for semiconductor packaging, with growth predicted to rise as the world becomes smarter and more connected.

Other report findings 

The study also found that while the U.S. can design cutting-edge electronics, it lacks the capabilities to make them. This is creating an overreliance on foreign companies, including companies in China, creating considerable risk.

Looking at the most recent data, the study highlights that North America’s share of global advanced semiconductor packaging production is just 3 per cent. In other words, at present, the U.S. is incapable of assembling its own chips.

The study concludes that the U.S. also needs to invest in developing and producing advanced integrated circuit substrates. Advanced integrated circuit substrates are crucial components for packaging circuit chips. Currently, the U.S. has nascent capabilities, putting it behind Europe, China and most other countries.

What can we deduce from the report? That the U.S. is behind in most aspects of semiconductor packaging. Decades of low investment and overseas partnerships have led to a manufacturing ecosystem devoid of domestic talent.

“The findings of this report make clear that, as a result of decades of offshoring, the United States’ semiconductor supply chains remain vulnerable, even with the new federal funding that’s expected,” says Jan Vardaman, president and founder of TechSearch International and co-author of the report. 

As the U.S. comes to terms with its poor manufacturing ecosystem, China is ramping up assembly plants. In the face of increasing competition, the U.S. must focus on domestic investment in the near and medium-term. Without robust investment, they could fall further behind and lose out to their biggest competitors.