How a build runs
Seven stages. The lead times below assume the design is finished and the silicon is available; if a foundry still has to be found, add three months at the front.
Enquiry and scope
You tell us what the part is, what volume you need per year, which package you want and what the test limits are. If the limits do not exist yet, that is fine — but it becomes the first thing we work on.
Week 1
Feasibility and supplier selection
We check the design against real lines: process node availability, package envelope, test cell capability, minimum order quantity. Where a requirement is internally inconsistent, you hear it here rather than later.
2 – 3 weeks
Quotation
One document: non-recurring engineering by line item, unit price at your volume, minimum order quantity, sample lead time and the assumptions each number rests on. Nothing in it is a placeholder.
1 week
Engineering build
Probe card, load board, test program and package tooling. This is where most of the NRE is spent and where a vague specification turns into rework, which is why stage 1 matters.
8 – 16 weeks
Samples and characterisation
First packaged parts, measured against your limits, with the raw data. You get the parts and the numbers, not a summary that hides the distribution.
4 – 6 weeks
Qualification
The reliability suite on production material from production tooling. Commercial grade by default, automotive where you need it, with the report.
16 – 20 weeks
Volume supply
Scheduled lots, per-lot test data, traceability and a stable line. From a standing start, volume is typically reached twelve to fifteen months after the first quotation is signed.
Ongoing
Questions we are asked early
What do you need from me to quote?
A description of the part, annual volume, target package, and your test limits. If you have a datasheet or a specification, send that. If you only have a reference part you want matched, say so plainly — it changes the answer, and pretending otherwise wastes both of us a month.
Can you work below your usual minimum order quantity?
Yes, as an engineering lot, which carries a two to three times price multiplier. Below roughly 25,000 units per package per lot, that is the honest structure. We will show you where the threshold sits for your specific package before you commit.
Do you supply the die, or do I?
Either. If you hold the design, we place it with a foundry. If you already have wafers or known-good die, we start from incoming inspection. If you want us to source a functionally similar die from a Chinese developer, that is a white-label arrangement and it is a different conversation with different paperwork.
How do you handle my design data?
Under NDA, before anything is sent. Data goes to the assigned supplier and nowhere else, and we tell you which supplier before it moves.
Why does qualification take so long?
HTOL alone is a thousand hours of powered operation, which is six weeks that cannot be compressed. The rest of the suite runs in parallel, so the total is set by the longest test, not the sum.