Coining is an American company started in 1965 by Nate Zimmer in northern New Jersey. The company quickly found success as a custom manufacturer supplying the emerging electronics industry then concentrated in New Jersey, Long Island and New England.
Coining's forte, then and now, is the manufacture of metallic, custom-shaped solder and braze preforms used in producing semiconductors. The company's focus on tiny solder preforms (some as small as 0.0035 inch square (0.09 mm) and as thin as 0.0003 inch (0.0076 mm)) has led Coining to becoming the largest solder preform manufacturer in the world. Coining estimates that it produces more than twice as many solder preforms annually (in both units and dollars) as its nearest competitor.
Coining's preforms are used for a multitude of joining applications in assembling and packaging integrated circuits by nearly 1000 customers located throughout the world. Preforms are thin, flat pieces of metal. They typically are utilized to connect two other structural components which comprise a portion of the housing that surrounds and protects a delicate integrated circuit. These housings (often referred to as "packages") are usually built from pieces of exotic metals (such as tungsten, molybdenum and Kovar), ceramic and/or glass. These components are assembled together with the appropriate preforms in between the mating surfaces of dissimilar materials. The entire assembly is then heated to elevated temperatures between 150 and 1000 degrees C for several seconds, minutes or even more. The preforms melt at these higher temperatures and spread out to completely fill the tiny spaces between the structural components. When the assembly is cooled back down to ambient temperature, the preforms freeze back into solids that firmly connect the mating surfaces. This process is generally referred to as glass-to-metal, ceramic-to-metal or metal-to-metal sealing.
Preforms are custom shaped to match their mating surfaces. Most are rectangular, square, round, washer or frame shaped, but some are specially designed to match complicated shaped parts being connected together. The metal alloy used for a particular preform application is selected based on its melting point or range and other metallurgical properties. Coining has manufactured more than 15,000 different preform shapes using more than 200 unique alloys including compounds involving gold, silver, tin, lead, germanium, palladium, bismuth, phosphorus, copper and indium.
In addition to preforms, Coining has expanded its product portfolio to include gold, aluminum and copper bonding wire and ribbon as well as bonding pads, tabs, jumper chips, heat sinks, lead frames, solder spheres and cover assemblies, all used for microelectronics packaging and assembly. The company is a leader in supplying heavy aluminum wire and ribbon for power bonding applications and fine copper wire for bonding applications historically requiring more expensive gold wire.
Coining differentiates itself from competing suppliers through its exceptionally fast delivery times, rapid responsiveness to inquires and questions, consistently high quality and competitive prices. Inquiries for new products are typically quoted within 24 hours. Delivery times are usually less than 2 weeks if tooling exists and less than 4 weeks when new tooling is needed. The company is certified to ISO 9001:2000 and ISO/TS 16949:2002. Facilities in the United States are maintained at Saddle Brook, NJ (headquarters) and Armonk, NY while international manufacturing operations are located in Penang, Malaysia and Casablanca, Morocco. Coining has field sales offces in San Diego, CA; Singapore; Beijing, China; and Shenzhen, China. The company also is represented by select independent sales representatives around the world.
Complementing its steady organic growth, Coining also has expanded via acquisition. In early 2009, the company acquired Semiconductor Packaging Materials (SPM), a competing manufacturer of preforms, microstampings and other microelectronics interconnect materials, especially gold, aluminum and copper bonding wire. Click here to read the news release about this acquisition.
|
