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Thread: Packaging Company Considerations

23 Discord messages from ℹ️ - Information/⁉️-questions/threads/packaging-company-considerations.md.

Category: ℹ️ - Information Parent channel: #⁉️-questions Thread ID: 1442592833310556413

Messages: 23

message-1442592833310556413

2025-11-24T19:08:53.54+00:00 — Trevor Peyton (@trev5514)

Content

I saw a post on CrowdSupply about the different packaging considerations that were evaluated. The design I'm targeting requires 100+ pins, so I can't go with the wire-bonded package. Does anyone have resources on companies that I could get in touch with to get some early quotes? I've taped out through my university, which has had lots of resources, but this is the first one solo, so I don't have much direction on where to look. I'm trying to get a rough price estimate before the design is sent off. Any help is greatly appriciated!
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message-1442598429774581780

2025-11-24T19:31:07.841+00:00 — tnt (@246tnt)

Content

What qty ?
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message-1442598482757292254

2025-11-24T19:31:20.473+00:00 — tnt (@246tnt)

Content

It's a different thing to package 10 samples vs all 1000 dies.
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message-1442599235806564442

2025-11-24T19:34:20.014+00:00 — tnt (@246tnt)

Content

This was for QFN64 but some prices I got were :
Low qty (~10) : 400 EUR setup + 150 EUR per piece
Larger qty (>=100) : 4kEUR setup + 15 eur per piece.

That's a ballpartk of course. Might be a bit higher with more pins.
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message-1442602030324518952

2025-11-24T19:45:26.279+00:00 — Trevor Peyton (@trev5514)

Content

50-100 to start, but the ability to repackage later is ideal. It sounds like the upfront setup might be better.
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message-1442864281140854995

2025-11-25T13:07:31.746+00:00 — Tholin (@tholin)

Content

That’s pretty steep for low qty. After just two or three prototype runs, it’d be more economical to get your own wire bonder and do DIY COB.
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message-1442865256375386222

2025-11-25T13:11:24.26+00:00 — tnt (@246tnt)

Content

Did you find a source for not horribly expensive wire bonders ? 😅
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message-1442865479306838106

2025-11-25T13:12:17.411+00:00 — Tholin (@tholin)

Content

Going by what others got theirs for
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message-1442947482752385034

2025-11-25T18:38:08.556+00:00 — Trevor Peyton (@trev5514)

Content

@Tholin I'd be interested in that if you have some more resources.
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message-1442948218903335043

2025-11-25T18:41:04.068+00:00 — urish

Content

Another datapoint - Two years ago I asked Integra for a quote for 250 QFN-64 packaging, they quoted me $6k.
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message-1442953500245098557

2025-11-25T19:02:03.238+00:00 — Trevor Peyton (@trev5514)

Content

@urish Wow, that's nearly the cost of the tapeout itself! I knew custom packaging was going to be expensive, but this is much higher than I thought.
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message-1442953818425004152

2025-11-25T19:03:19.098+00:00 — urish

Content

What I learnt is that this industry is optimized for mass production, not for prototyping
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message-1442954125796048906

2025-11-25T19:04:32.381+00:00 — urish

Content

We hope that projects like wafer.space and Tiny Tapeout will make it worthwhile for companies to fill the gap for affordable low-volume packaging solutions

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message-1442954581792395355

2025-11-25T19:06:21.099+00:00 — Trevor Peyton (@trev5514)

Content

Makes sense. It seems like you bite the bullet with extremly low volume (10-30) which is typical for MPW runs, but it's ok since it's such a low volume. Sounds like 1000 chips doesn't really have a place right now so I do hope this will disrupt the market!
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message-1443076163051196427

2025-11-26T03:09:28.33+00:00 — Tim 'mithro' Ansell (@mithro_)

Content

@Trevor Peyton - My evaluation was that packaging 10 to 100 dies costs *more* than the 1,000 parts using COB.
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message-1443089159723159642

2025-11-26T04:01:06.978+00:00 — Trevor Peyton (@trev5514)

Content

@Tim 'mithro' Ansell That's what I'm finding out. I am going to make some changes and try to fit my design into the proposed wirebond COB!
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message-1443089725211807815

2025-11-26T04:03:21.801+00:00 — Tim 'mithro' Ansell (@mithro_)

Content

@Trevor Peyton - FYI the costing around COB is around 1-2 cent per wire bond and like 20-30 cent per die + costs of PCB
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message-1443090096973807797

2025-11-26T04:04:50.436+00:00 — Tim 'mithro' Ansell (@mithro_)

Content

@Trevor Peyton - I'd be open trying to figure out a higher I/O count (>100 pins) option in the future, but that probably is going to be above the $1.50 USD per part currently being offered.
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message-1443351700411912382

2025-11-26T21:24:21.556+00:00 — Trevor Peyton (@trev5514)

Content

@Tim 'mithro' Ansell Heard. More pins is great but I can understand the cost tradeoff. $1.50 per part is pretty unbeatable.
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message-1443370325482934353

2025-11-26T22:38:22.119+00:00 — Tim 'mithro' Ansell (@mithro_)

Content

Like a high pin count $3 USD option could probably work.
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message-1443385531466645537

2025-11-26T23:38:47.508+00:00 — Trevor Peyton (@trev5514)

Content

~$3,000 for 1000 chips is still incredible, especially when compared to some of the prices thrown out above.
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message-1443386325414973492

2025-11-26T23:41:56.8+00:00 — Tim 'mithro' Ansell (@mithro_)

Content

@Trevor Peyton - The hope is eventually it'll just be a standard option as part of PCBA at places like PCBWay / Seeed / JLC PCB / your favorite PCBA house.
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message-1443439048512241714

2025-11-27T03:11:26.966+00:00 — Trevor Peyton (@trev5514)

Content

@Tim 'mithro' Ansell That would be amazing, I hope we can get there!
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