The difference between packaging factory and wafer factory

The key difference between a semiconductor packaging facility and a wafer fabrication facility lies in their respective roles within the semiconductor manufacturing process.

Wafer Fabrication Facility (Fab):

A wafer fabrication facility, also known as a fab, is where semiconductor wafers are produced.
Fabs are equipped with highly specialized equipment for the fabrication of integrated circuits (ICs) onto silicon wafers.
Processes in a fab include photolithography, etching, deposition, and doping, among others, to create the intricate patterns and structures of semiconductor devices on silicon wafers.

Fabs are typically extremely clean environments, often classified as cleanrooms, to minimize contamination and ensure high-quality semiconductor production.

Semiconductor Packaging Facility:

A semiconductor packaging facility is where the individual semiconductor devices, which have been fabricated on wafers, are assembled and encapsulated into their final package form.

This process involves taking the processed wafers from the fab and separating the individual die (chips) before packaging them into various types of packages such as ball grid arrays (BGAs), quad flat packages (QFPs), and more.
Packaging also includes wire bonding or other interconnection methods to connect the die to the package leads or balls.
Additional processes such as sealing the package with epoxy or molding compounds, marking, and testing are also carried out in the packaging facility.

In summary, while wafer fabrication facilities focus on the creation of semiconductor devices on silicon wafers, semiconductor packaging facilities specialize in assembling these devices into their final packaged forms ready for integration into electronic products.