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The surge in demand for advanced semiconductor components is propelled by the surging consumer preference for electronic gadgets like smartphones, tablets, laptops, and data centers. These modern devices rely on a diverse array of semiconductors, and this demand is poised to sustain its upward trajectory in the foreseeable future. As the semiconductor market expands, the need for logic test probe cards will naturally follow suit.
The escalating intricacy of integrated circuits (ICs) is another instrumental driver for logic test probe cards. With ICs growing more intricate, there’s an increasing requirement for additional test points, thus necessitating a greater number of probe cards. This growing IC complexity is intrinsically linked to the pursuit of more robust and energy-efficient electronic devices.
Furthermore, the relentless march towards miniaturization in the realm of electronic devices is further stoking the demand for logic test probe cards. As electronic devices continue to shrink in size, probe cards need to adapt, ensuring they can effectively engage with the fine-pitch features of these downsized gadgets.
The demand for high-speed testing is yet another critical factor propelling the need for logic test probe cards. With electronic devices operating at ever-increasing speeds, the probe cards tasked with testing them must also evolve to match these high-speed signal demands, aligning with the requirements of contemporary electronics.
The burgeoning popularity of 3D ICs constitutes an additional driving force behind the demand for logic test probe cards. Testing 3D ICs is a more intricate process compared to traditional 2D ICs, necessitating the use of specialized probe cards. The ascendancy of 3D ICs can be attributed to the pressing need for more potent and efficient electronic devices, further underlining the importance of these testing tools.
Coking coal, often known as metallic coal, is a type of sedimentary rock that is naturally present in the earth’s crust. Hard coking coal, semi-hard coking coal, semi-soft coking coal, and pulverized coal for injection are all types of met coal (PCI).
These hold true for the various met coal quality grades, all of which are utilized to create steel. Met coal, which is used to produce electricity, often has higher carbon content, less ash, and less moisture than thermal coal.
Because of its higher carbon content and propensity to clump together, metallic coal differs from thermal coal, which is utilized for energy and heating. The capacity of the coal to be transformed into coke—a pure form of carbon that can be used in fundamental oxygen furnaces—is referred to as caking.
Bituminous coal is harder and darker and is typically categorised as a metallurgical grade. Compared to low-rank coals, it has greater carbon and less moisture and ash.
The Global metallurgical coal market accounted for $XX Billion in 2022 and is anticipated to reach $XX Billion by 2030, registering a CAGR of XX% from 2024 to 2030.
Chinese manufacturers are increasing their presence in the logic test probe card market, and they are offering lower-cost probe cards. This is putting pressure on prices and margins for established manufacturers.
Thin film MLO (micro-lens array) probe cards are becoming increasingly popular due to their ability to provide high-resolution testing of fine-pitch devices.
Technoprobe S.p.A., a leading manufacturer of probe cards, has acquired a membrane probe card manufacturer. The acquisition will allow Technoprobe to expand its product portfolio into the growing market for membrane probe cards. Membrane probe cards are used to test flexible and curved devices, such as those used in wearable electronics.
Japan Electronic Materials Co., Ltd. (JEM), a leading manufacturer of probe card materials, has announced plans to invest in a new probe card manufacturing facility. The new facility will be located in Japan and will be used to manufacture a variety of probe card materials, including vertical needles, MEMS springs, and thin film MLOs.
Thin film micro-lens array (MLO) probe cards are becoming increasingly popular due to their ability to provide high-resolution testing of fine-pitch devices. These probe cards are particularly well-suited for testing advanced semiconductors and MEMS devices.
Probe card manufacturers are integrating advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), into their products to improve performance and reliability. These technologies can be used to automate probe card design and manufacturing, as well as to improve probe card calibration and maintenance.
Probe card manufacturers are focusing on developing more sustainable products by using recycled materials and reducing waste. This is being driven by the increasing demand for environmentally friendly products.
According to the current import policy, customers themselves may freely import coal (under Open General Licence) based on their own needs and commercial discretion.
Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) and other steel-making facilities import coking coal primarily to fill the gap between demand and supply domestically and to raise the quality. Non-coking coal is imported by coal based power stations, cement factories, captive power plants, sponge iron plants, industrial customers, and coal traders.
Pig-Iron producers and other consumers in the Iron & Steel sector use mini-blast furnaces to import coke. India’s imports of coking coal increased to 51.65 million t , up 4.5 percent , with shipments primarily coming from Australia. Due to the higher ash percentage of domestic production than what Indian steel mills need, they are dependent on imported coking coal.
The expansion of the infrastructure and metals sectors has led to an increase in the demand for metallurgical coal during the anticipated period. In addition, the need for metallurgical coal is related to or dependent upon the demand for steel. In addition, 1 tonne of steel requires about 640 kg of coal to produce.
The furnace is also a crucial step in the manufacture of steel using traditional oxygen-based furnace techniques. The largest producer and consumer of coking coal in the world, China, is anticipated to continue growing strongly during the projection period. The market for metallurgical coal benefits from rising metallurgical coal demand, especially in developing nations.
Demand for coking coal increases as a result of the rising cost of metallurgical coal, which is mostly driven by supply constraints.The market for metallurgical coal is gaining from government initiatives to offer various kinds of subsidiary and promotional activities.
Despite metallurgical coal’s low prices, businesses are increasing their investment in the market since prices are stable. As a result, it is anticipated that the market for metallurgical coal would expand over the forecast period. Businesses involved in coal mining employ 3D mine visualizers to obtain a real-time digital representation of a mine.
A three-dimensional visualisation of the mine plan is created by a three-dimensional mine visualizer and communicated to the operator. Through a web-based interface, any connected device can get information about the model. It includes complete 3D recording and playback capabilities, enabling users to review and assess historical data in order to increase productivity and identify the finest.
The market is divided into three categories based on type: Hard coking coals (HCC), Semi-soft coking coal (SSCC), and Pulverised coal injection (PCI). The most costly type of coking coal is hard coking coal (HCC) (also referred to as metallurgical coals). HCC is only applied to the blast furnace method of making steel.
It is an essential part of this procedure and cannot be replaced in any way. Although this lowers the quality of the coke and increases the amount of impurities, semi-soft coking coal (SSCC) or weak coking coal is used in the coke mix. Because thermal coal and SSCC can be used interchangeably, SSCC price movements are closely related to those of thermal coal.
New metallurgical coal mine in Aquila was opened by Anglo American. Anglo American plc (“Anglo American”) reports that the project’s final phases of development and commissioning have been completed with the first longwall shear of steelmaking metallurgical coal at the new Aquila mine on time and below budget.
Anglo American’s Capcoal underground operations will now have an additional seven years of life thanks to the Aquila mine, which is close to Middlemount in Central Queensland, Australia. This comes after the neighbouring Grasstree mine, operated by the business, recently neared the end of its useful life.
“Despite the pandemic’s effects, safely resuming longwall mining at Aquila Mine on time is a significant achievement for their Metallurgical Coal company and will assist their continued support of the Middlemount community and Queensland’s economy.
Around 600 continuous operational tasks for their Queensland-based employees are supported by the mine, which makes use of their existing infrastructure at their Capcoal complex and ensures the continued employment of their Grasstree mining team.
The Aquila Mine was created as one of Australia’s most technologically sophisticated underground mines, utilising Anglo American’s developments in data analytics, remote operations, and subterranean automation technologies.
Because the mine has two longwalls, activities can go on without the pause that longwall moves typically entail. Both longwalls can be operated entirely remotely, and they will be done so one at a time from a site-based remote operations centre on the mine’s surface.
MPI Corporation, a leading manufacturer of probe cards, has launched a new online probe card configurator. The new configurator allows customers to design and configure their own probe cards online. The configurator includes a variety of options, such as probe type, probe pitch, and probe card size
FormFactor, Inc. (NASDAQ: FORM), a leading provider of semiconductor test and measurement solutions, has announced the launch of its new vertical needle probe card for advanced packaging applications. The new probe card is designed to meet the demanding test requirements of advanced packaging technologies, such as fan-out wafer-level packaging (FO-WLP) and system-in-package (SiP).
Micronics Japan Co., Ltd. (MJC), a leading manufacturer of probe cards, has developed a new thin film micro-lens array (MLO) probe card for high-resolution testing of fine-pitch devices. The new probe card is designed to provide high-resolution images of fine-pitch features, such as those found in advanced semiconductors and MEMS devices.
SV Probe, a leading manufacturer of probe cards, has developed a new 3D logic test probe card for multi-layer ICs. The new probe card is designed to meet the demanding test requirements of multi-layer ICs, such as those used in smartphones and other mobile devices.
Warrior Met Coal to Relaunch Development of World-Class Blue Creek Hard Coking Coal Project.Resuming development of its Blue Creek deposits into a new, world-class longwall mine in Alabama near its current operations.
Once completed, this transformative expansion investment will strengthen Warrior’s position as the leading U.S. pure-play producer of premium metallurgical (“met”) coal products desired by clients across the world. Met coal, as opposed to thermal coal, has distinct physical qualities and is utilised only in the manufacturing of steel.
Steel and other commodity price increases, including labour costs, has raised the project’s overall capital investment requirements since its first announcement. However, during a project refresh, the Company identified potential production increases of around 10% and anticipates being able to accelerate the start of longwall production by about fifteen months due to design changes and projected stronger available liquidity to fund the project.
The Blue Creek development will be a single longwall mine with a capacity of 4.8 million short tonnes per year (‘mstpa”) of premium High-Vol A met coal throughout the first 10 years of operation. It is one of the few large-scale, undeveloped premium High Vol A met coal sources in the United States.
Technology of Producing Petroleum Coking Additives to Replace Coking Coal.Coking coals, which are among the most precious grades, are frequently in short supply for coke chemical firms.
the potential for manufacturing petroleum coking additives by delayed coking during the processing of heavy petroleum residue. Three types of heavy petroleum residues from the oil refinery plant Ltd Kinef were used in the experiments to produce a carbon material: the vacuum residue from the crude atmospheric and vacuum distillation units (VR1), the vacuum residue from the vacuum distillation hydrocracking unit (VR2), and the visbreaker residue from the visbreaking unit (VR3).
The quality indicators for the carbon material generated were identified, and X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric, and differential thermal examinations were carried out.
The petroleum coking additive, which was created in place of standard petroleum coke under a milder temperature regime, had the necessary quality indicators, particularly a volatile-matter yield between 15 and 25 weight percent, to be used in the production of metallurgical coke by partially replacing coking coals in the charge.
Since it is hard to replace most hydrocarbon resources with alternatives, feedstock resources will be important for processing. Delayed coking, which extends petroleum processing to create commodities in the oil refinery plant to a maximum of 98%, is the most popular thermal processing method used for heavy petroleum dregs worldwide.
The combined crude material capacity of Russia’s delayed coking facilities in 2021 was around 13.6 million tonnes. By using this method, it is possible to produce more light petroleum products and add carbon materials to the existing range of commodities. Production of petroleum coking additives in delayed coking plants as an alternative to standard coarse petroleum coke.
In Russia and the CIS, petroleum coke is known as a petroleum coking additive. Petroleum coke is a potential substitute for coking coals in the manufacturing of metallurgical coke.
The carbon bottom product of a delayed coking unit in petroleum refineries—which is produced at a “softer” temperature regime (455–475 °C) than petroleum coke (495–505 °C)—is a petroleum coking additive.
The high volatile-matter output of the petroleum coking additive, ranging from 15 to 25 wt% (compared to petroleum coke, which is typically up to 9-12 wt%), is one of its distinguishing characteristics.
Additionally, the sulphur level of the petroleum coking additive is not subject to the same rigorous limitations as the sulphur content of the petroleum coke used as a raw material for the manufacturing of electrodes or anodes (up to 4.8 wt%).
This enables low-grade sulphur and high-sulphur heavy oil dregs from the production of hydrocarbons to be thought of as affordable feedstock for delayed coking units.
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