INTERPLEX INDUSTRIES has acquired Quantum Leap Packaging, Inc. (QLP). This transaction involves all of QLP's proprietary technologies including resin technologies like Quantech. Interplex will integrate QLP's packaging technology into its Interplex Engineered Products (IEP) facility in East Providence, RI and eventually expand it to the global market. To maintain the original vision of the founder as a "Quantum Leap" in technology, QLP's new name will be Interplex QLP (iQLP).
Compared to ceramic-based packages for the semiconductor industry, the firm's novel material technology, Quantech, can be used to provide a lower-cost, reliable air-cavity packaging solution. Target applications include high-power RF-microwave assemblies, image sensors, high-brightness light-emitting diodes (HB-LEDs), microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), and optical electronic systems. QLP's Herme- Tech package, which is based on Quantech technology, promises to provide a "true" plastic hermetic package.
The original purpose of Quantech was to solve the fundamental problems of conventional liquid-crystal polymers (LCPs), such as true adhesion to metal, extremely high-temperature performance capabilities (above 450oC), and isotropic coefficients of expansion-matching metals. These properties enabled the use of Quantech in hermetic semiconductor packaging.
"The addition of QLP is a natural expansion of Interplex's vertically integrated global electronic packaging business," says Steven Feinstein, Interplex's Executive Vice President.
According to Dr. Michael Zimmerman, QLP's Founder, Inventor of Quantech, and Chief Technical Officer, "QLP materials and packaging technology have been validated and qualified in high-reliability hermetic ceramic packaging applications by the industry's market leader. (The results were jointly published with Freescale at the International Microwave Symposium in June.) The acquisition by Interplex should allow for this new materials science and packaging technology to be commercialized in a wider variety of applications."