This interview features Martin Sallenhag, CEO, at RoodMicrotec, part of Microtest Group.
Can you describe your company’s founding vision and how it has evolved to address the changing landscape of the semiconductor industry?
RoodMicrotec was founded in 1969 and has been a strong partner for European semiconductor companies during many different phases of the economy. Until 2023 we were listed on the Amsterdam stock exchange but to be able to grow further a decision was taken to join a bigger group and build a wider eco-system. The Microtest Group, headed from Lucca in Italy is aiming to become the leading ATE and services supplier in Europe. The semiconductor services division of Microtest includes RoodMicrotec in Germany, a test house in Italy and a manufacturing plant in Malaysia. We are therefore well positioned to cover the development of products coming out of Europe and also offer volume production in Asia if that is required from a logistics perspective.
What core technological capabilities and innovations differentiate your company and position you for future success in the semiconductor market?
We have a well-established partner network so we can offer the full turn-key service for our customers. We cooperate closely with design houses to offer our customers state-of-the art ASIC solutions, we then source the wafers as well as package the final devices through other partners in Europe or Asia. Internal test development enables us to optimize the test solutions for the machines available within the company. Our test floors are running 24/7 and we are very flexible in running both low and high-volume products. Additionally, we also offer qualification of new products and technology analysis if more information about failure mechanisms are needed.
Beyond your current product portfolio, what emerging technologies are you actively researching or developing, and what are the potential applications and market opportunities?
The general trend in the AI business is forcing many companies to develop new solutions. We are active in the optical transmission testing as well as Chiplets. Both of those areas are necessary to get the increased speed needed as well as the power consumption to be reduced.
What are the most pressing challenges currently facing the semiconductor industry, and how is your company uniquely positioned to address them?
The geopolitical situation in the world is forcing companies to rethink the supply chain solutions. RoodMicrotec is very well positioned to be the key player in Europe since we have a fully functional operations in Germany and Italy (with the possibility to expand to Asia if requested by the customer in volume production). The same culture and time zone as our customers makes the development of highly complex solutions much more efficient. We are also flexible in being able to support both low volumes as well as high volumes for our customers.
What were the key learnings from your most significant project or initiative in the past year, and how will these shape your future strategies?
Over the last couple of years, we have seen a trend where test development is started much earlier in a project phase. Due to the high pressure to get parts out on the market earlier, all parts of a development project must run in parallel. The challenge here is to develop a test solution without the final information on the performance of the products. We have therefore strengthened the team to be able to work very closely with the customers and to be able to help the customers to design for testability. We have successfully run a number of these projects and can say that the time-to-market was met.
Which market segments or applications do you see as having the greatest potential for growth in the next 5-10 years, and what is your company’s strategy to capitalize on these opportunities?
Automotive will continue to grow due to the increased electronic content of the cars. Also, the higher computing requirement for autonomous driving and other functions in the cars drive the electronic requirements. AI will also drive the electronics market in the future with high-speed requirements together with power consumption. We are active in both those areas, speed through optical wafer testing capabilities, and power consumption through test solutions for individual devices going into Chiplets.
What are your predictions for the evolution of semiconductor manufacturing processes and architectures in the next decade?
We will see a need for both bigger process nodes as well as extremely small process nodes based on the functions needed. High power and RF functions require a certain process capability whereas very high-speed digital requires a much smaller node. The product will then move in the direction of Chiplets where each function uses the process node that is best suited for the requirements. The testing of each individual part will be a challenge since the drive capabilities of the pads are lowered to save area and power. RoodMicrotec is working on an advanced solution to be able to offer this to our customers. High speed is also very important since there is a lot of data that needs to be transmitted. This will move more and more into the optical area since it is mor efficient. We are developing a wafer test solution to help our customers find an efficient solution for the future.
What role do you see your company playing in shaping the future of the semiconductor industry, and what are your key initiatives to achieve this vision?
RoodMicrotec is a leading independent semiconductor service company in Europe. We are therefore very well placed to support our customers when they see a need to bring development and production back to Europe. The time zone benefit as well as the same cultural beliefs improves the cooperation and thereby speeds up the time-to-market for new products.
What are your strategies for attracting and retaining top talent to support your long-term technological vision?
We offer an open work environment where everybody can talk to everybody, no hierarchical barriers in the organization. We also have a good mix of experienced people and young new people in the company. This enables us to make use of the experience of the long-term employees together with the new ideas coming from younger people. We also offer possibilities to study in parallel to working in the company, this enables people to extend their knowledge to grow further in their roles.
What strategic partnerships or collaborations are crucial to your company’s success in navigating the future of the semiconductor industry?
We have strategic partnerships with design houses to enable our customers to implement the best possible solution for their application. Based on the requirements of the customer we can thereby recommend the best possible design house for his needs. Additionally, we also have partnerships with wafer fabs in Europe as well as Asia to be able to support our customers with sourcing devices. Based on what function the customer is implementing, different wafer fabs are required. Packaging of the final product, or bumping of wafers, is the final stage of the manufacturing flow. Here we also have a number of good partners that can implement the required solutions.
