GEM News

Fairchild to License Next Generation MOSFET Packaging Technology to GEM Services as Open Tooling for Power Semiconductor Market
– Agreement will Increase Availability of Fairchild’s BGA Products

March 18, 2004 — San Jose, Calif. — Fairchild Semiconductor (NYSE: FCS) announced today that it has reached a licensing agreement with GEM Services, Inc., to offer one of Fairchild’s most advanced MOSFET packaging technologies as open tooling for the power semiconductor market. This agreement will make Fairchild’s Ball Grid Array (BGA) Power technology available for use by other semiconductor suppliers. Opening the tooling enables customers to multi-source their purchases of this previously proprietary BGA technology, thereby increasing product availability and lowering the customer’s supply chain risk.

“Fairchild is the only manufacturer in full volume production of single and dual N- and P-Channel BGA MOSFETs,” commented Richard J. Kulle, president and CEO of GEM Services, Inc. “These devices can decrease component count while doubling, and sometimes even quadrupling, electrical and thermal performance of power devices. In my experience these advantages are unparalleled and GEM is eager to support this important technology.”

BGA Packaging Technology
Fairchild developed and introduced its first BGA technology for MOSFETs in 1999. In 2002, the company announced a complete, next generation line of BGA-packaged MOSFETs, which maintain conventional footprint characteristics while dramatically improving thermal and electrical performance. Compared to standard leaded packages currently used in similar applications, Fairchild’s BGA technology offers significant performance advantages, such as:

• Low gate, drain, and source inductances
• Low gate, drain, and source resistances
• Low profile (0.9mm and less)
• Low thermal resistance
• The ability to be heat sunk from both the top and bottom of the package
• High current density
• An excellent FFOM (Footprint Figure of Merit – RDS(on) x package area consumed)

“Fairchild’s BGA technology is the next generation in power management solutions,” said Dr. Izak Bencuya, Fairchild’s chief strategy officer, executive vice president and general manager, Power Discrete Group. “This agreement will allow GEM to offer the high-volume, widely adopted BGA packaging technology to other silicon suppliers, which will expand the number of products available while offering a multi-source supply of MOSFET technology to the broadest range of customers.”

To learn more contact:
Gary Baker, Marketing Communications Manager
Discrete Power Technologies Group
Phone: (321) 956-5674
Email: gary.baker@fairchildsemi.com

About Fairchild Semiconductor
Fairchild Semiconductor (NYSE: FCS) is a leading global supplier of high performance products for multiple end markets. With a focus on developing leading edge power and interface solutions to enable the electronics of today and tomorrow, Fairchild’s components are used in computing, communications, consumer, industrial and automotive applications. Fairchild’s 10,000 employees design, manufacture and market power, analog & mixed signal, interface, logic, and optoelectronics products from its headquarters in South Portland, Maine, USA and numerous locations around the world. Please contact us on the web at www.fairchildsemi.com.

About GEM Services, Inc.
GEM Services is a multinational semiconductor assembly and test contractor. Founded in 1998, GEM specializes in small-outline surface-mount packages for power semiconductors, serving manufacturers who strive to satisfy the growing demand for power management products required by portable, battery-powered communications and computing systems. GEM Services, Inc. is a privately held company incorporated in the Cayman Islands with three wholly-owned subsidiaries: GEM Services USA in North America, GEM Electronics, Inc. in Taiwan, and GEM Services Hong Kong, Ltd., which owns the subsidiary, GEM Electronics Shanghai Co., Ltd. For more information, please contact www.gemservices.com.