The market continues to demand increasingly thinner packages, higher yield, enhanced reliability and lower cost for image sensor packaging. Tessera's SHELLCASE wafer-level chip-scale packaging (WLCSP) includes the latest advancements in image sensor packaging technology and delivers a high-yield, highly reliable manufacturing solution for image sensors used in next-generation mobile devices including mobile phones and PDAs.

Tessera announced that Advanced Wafer Level Packaging Inc. (AWLP) has licensed the full range of SHELLCASE(R) image sensor packaging technologies from Tessera, including the SHELLCASE MVP solution, which is one of the industry's first Through Silicon Via (TSV) solutions.

"The market for image sensor packaging continues to grow rapidly, especially as it migrates to 2 mega pixel and above, where the benefits of our SHELLCASE technology really pay off in reducing module assembly yield losses," said Michael Bereziuk, executive vice president, Imaging & Optics, Tessera. "AWLP shares our vision of this significant market opportunity and will create a new manufacturing site in a region that is driving the next-generation of imager and camera modules."
 
AWLP is an early-stage start-up company based in Seoul, Korea. The new outsource packaging company will be dedicated to providing SHELLCASE packaging services to semiconductor manufacturing companies. While AWLP will specialise in image sensor technology, it will also offer packaging services for devices including micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) and light sensors.

"We are very happy to license WLCSP technology from Tessera as their top licensee in Korea," said YJ Shim, chief executive officer, AWLP. "We will provide the newest, highest quality chip-scale packaging technology service to meet our customers' image sensor packaging requirements."

AWLP was established in 2007 as a foundry service provider dedicated to Tessera WLCSP technology. AWLP's facility is now being built in Kwangju City and will begin production by the end of 1Q09.