Use of Surftape to ship bare die, small packages

The final step in getting a good product to the customer is packing. At Texas Instruments (TI), various packing media and methods are used, including magazines, trays, waffle packs, gel packs, and tape and reel. These materials are extremely important because they ensure that the product gets to the customer free of mechanical and/or electrical damage. The primary TI shipping method is tape and reel for dual in-line, BGA, chip-scale, and wafer-scale packages. The new Surftape carrier tape is being used for some shipments. This tape has many advantages over conventional carrier tape and is being used to ship bare die to customers. Because Surftape is new to TI and to its customers, this application report characterizes and defines the current application.

Today, all TI groups cannot use Surftape because a special feeder is needed to extract the die or packages from the tape. This feeder is offered by several manufacturers that are listed on the Surftape website. Some TI product groups sell via distribution and, as a result, many unknown customers purchase TI products. Customers receiving a tape they cannot process with their standard machines without buying a special feeder are not likely to purchase TI products again. Thus, Surftape is allowed to be used only by TI businesses that have a customer base that can use the tape without any issues. Currently, only the Automotive Products Group uses this tape for automotive applications.

View the PDF document for more information.

Originally published by Texas Instruments Inc. at www.ti.com as "Use of Surftape Carrier Tape to Ship TI Bare Die and Small Packages".