TAICHUNG, Taiwan – 2022-11-16 – Winbond Electronics Corporation, a leading global supplier of semiconductor memory solutions, today announced that its Flash Memory products will now support the low temperature soldering (LTS) process, which reduces Surface Mount Technology (SMT) temperature from 220~260oC in the lead-free process to ~190oC. This new process will enable Winbond to significantly reduce CO2 emissions in SMT production lines, while also simplifying, shortening and lowering the cost of the SMT process.

According to the forecast of the International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (iNEMI), the market share of LTS application products will increase from ~1% to more than 20% in 2027, highlighting the electronics industry’s commitment to environmental issues and sustainable development practices. Winbond is at the forefront of this global trend as the Flash Memory provider to offer this process. Winbond has already proven that its LTS products comply with JEDEC standards and have passed the relevant reliability verification procedures including drop, vibration and temperature cycling tests.   

“As a leader in Flash Memory products, Winbond has an opportunity to leverage its position to help drive carbon neutrality and slow global warming,” said Winbond. “We are proud to be the pioneer on memory industry to make the transition to LTS and we encourage other global leaders to join us in taking action for a greener and more sustainable future.”

Below are some of the key benefits of moving to an LTS process:

・Reduced carbon emissions – According to the Intel Introduction to Low Temperature Soldering (LTS) 2017, p18-19, reducing the SMT temperature from 220~260oC in the lead-free process to ~190oC can lower the CO2 emission of each SMT production line by 57 metric tons a year. 

・Simpler and faster SMT process for PCBs with plug-in components – The plug-in components only can withstand the lower soldering temperature. With introducing the device supports the low-temperature soldering process, the SMT line can assemble all components on the PCB at one time, which greatly simplifies and shortens the SMT process. 

・Cost Reduction – As the soldering temperature drops, lower-cost low-temperature materials can be selected for chips and PCBs. According to the Intel LTS 2017, p15-16, the overall annual cost of SMT production can be reduced by approximately 40% when transitioning to LTS.

Besides, Winbond will demonstrate its products at Electronica Munich (Hall B4-320) and Electronica Shenzun (Hall 2F-80) on November 15-18, under the theme of “Next Future: the memory of everything.” 

About Winbond

Winbond Electronics Corporation is a leading global supplier of semiconductor memory solutions. The Company provides customer-driven memory solutions backed by the expert capabilities of product design, R&D, manufacturing, and sales services. Winbond's product portfolio, consisting of Specialty DRAM, Mobile DRAM, Code Storage Flash, and TrustME® Secure Flash, is widely used by tier-1 customers in communication, consumer electronics, automotive and industrial, and computer peripheral markets. Winbond is headquartered in Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP), and it has subsidiaries in the USA, Japan, Israel, China, Hong Kong, and Germany. Based on Taichung and new Kaohsiung 12-inch fabs in Taiwan, Winbond keeps pace to develop in-house technologies to provide high-quality memory IC products.