6. Life cycle of encapsulation technologies

As with all technologies, processes and materials evolve, and product families disappear to be replaced by other, ever more high-performance families. However, package families have relatively long lifespans compared to the circuits they encapsulate. For example, the PDIP package, developed before 1970, is still in production, even though it has been considered end-of-life for many years. The lifespan of SOs will exceed 25 years, while that of some more recent packages will probably be close to 20 years.

The technological evolution of enclosures is driven by volume markets, for which integration is a predominant factor, i.e. today's microcomputers and cell phones, digital cameras... This momentum is leading to the disappearance of older technologies, for reasons of production cost (linked to the volume produced) and the OEM's interest in using these technologies...