At a glance
| Booth | K2985 |
| Country | JP |
| Website | upt-co.com/tw |
Company profile
United Precision Technologies Co.,Ltd. (UPT), founded on September 7th, 2015 with capital of JPY 50 million, produces precision metal parts used in the creation and dependable supply of high-performance, very small electronic components. UPT connects this precision-manufacturing role with advances in AI, self-driving technology, electric vehicles (EVs), and advanced healthcare services, fields that depend on compact, high-performance electronic components. The company states that it holds the largest share of the global market in springs used in premium-segment smartphone cameras for image stability. UPT was honored as one of the Global Niche Top Companies in 2020 in an award sponsored by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry. Its business overview includes VCM springs for optical image stabilization in smartphone cameras and contact sockets and components for semiconductor electrical testing. Industrial-solution products include processing trays and jigs, cooling plates with microchannels and other cooling components, components for optical devices, and components for other industries. UPT therefore combines precision metal-part manufacturing with product programs in smartphone-camera stabilization, semiconductor electrical testing, thermal components, processing fixtures, and optical-device components.
Exhibits
UPT uses photo etching as a precision metal-processing technology in which chemical solutions remove selected areas of metal to form complex, ultra-fine patterns without applying mechanical stress. The process supports high-precision parts for electronics, semiconductors, and other advanced industries, including jigs and small components that require extremely fine patterns and complex designs. Because photo etching does not apply mechanical force, it minimizes the risk of material deformation or damage, while photoresist protects selected areas so the remaining areas can be etched with high precision. UPT offers one-stop support for metal-processed parts from prototype samples through mass production and supports short lead times. Its photo-etching technology can process hard-to-machine materials and sheet thicknesses from 0.004 mm to 2 mm, covering ultra-small parts, ultra-thin products, high-precision requirements, and special complex shapes. UPT maintains more than 500 material types in stock and uses a dedicated prototyping team to support quick responses and short lead times. Equipment and quality-control systems developed in Japanese factories have been introduced at the Thailand facility to support low-cost mass production with the quality system developed in Japan. UPT coordinates and manages external technical suppliers and provides a one-stop route from design and manufacturing through plating, precision machining, surface treatment, and assembly. Mass-production operations are available in Japan and Thailand, and support is offered in Japanese, English, Chinese, Korean, and Thai. Processable materials listed for photo etching include stainless grades SUS301, SUS304, SUS430, SUS316, and SUS631; nickel and nickel-related materials Ni201, 36Ni, 42Ni, and Permalloy; SPCC steel; TR270C titanium; and aluminum grades A1050, A1100, A5052, A6061, and A6063. The material list also includes copper and copper alloys C1020, C1100, C1720, C2680, C2801, C5191, C5210, C7521, and C7701, Kovar grades KV-2 and KV-6, and SK5 carbon steel. For semiconductor test solutions, photo etching is used to process conductive and durable metals with high dimensional accuracy for probe pins and test sockets, and UPT offers Union Contact® one-piece probe pins and Micro Metal Socket® test sockets. For thermal solutions, photo etching forms fine flow paths in thermally conductive metal sheets for cold or cooling plates and heat sinks that require complex patterns and high cooling performance. Other applications include shim spacers for precise gap adjustment and high-precision filters that remove fine impurities from liquids and gases or perform precise flow control through fine holes and complex patterns. UPT combines photo etching with diffusion bonding to create metal parts with 3D internal structures and flow paths that are difficult or impossible to form by machining alone. Diffusion bonding joins metal by bringing metal surfaces close together at the atomic level, and UPT combines that joining method with photo etching to create metal parts with freely designed 3D internal structures. Examples include a 3D structure built from 0.5 mm plates in 10 layers, a high-aspect-ratio metal filter using 0.05 mm meshes stacked in 1000 layers, and a complex design using 0.1 mm plates in 7 layers. The stated benefits of diffusion bonding plus photo etching include complex-design capability, reliability in high- and low-temperature environments, fracture toughness, high-temperature resistance, small post-bond alignment error, dimensional accuracy, low deformation, 3D-shape and flow-path formation, and cost effectiveness from prototyping through mass production. Photo-etching tolerances can be as tight as ±5 μm depending on material and thickness, with line widths and hole diameters of 20 μm or smaller identified as achievable. Design constraints depend on material and thickness; hole diameters can be processed at D = t or greater and no smaller than 0.05 mm, while deep or narrow aspect ratios may require design optimization. Prototype etching products can be delivered in as little as two days from the factory in Japan or Thailand, depending on design complexity and quantity. UPT supports quantities from small prototype orders to full-scale mass production without a strict minimum order requirement, matching supply to stages from R&D samples through long-term volume production. In the process comparison, photo etching is listed for 0.004mm–2mm thicknesses with low tooling cost and moderate production speed, while laser machining is listed for 0.05mm–3mm with medium tooling cost and press processing for 0.1mm–10mm with high tooling cost. The same comparison describes photo etching as extremely accurate with no mechanical stress and very low deformation, laser machining as high precision with possible heat effects and medium deformation, and press processing as dependent on tooling precision with higher deformation from mechanical force.
Capabilities and products
- precision metal-part manufacturing
- smartphone optical image-stabilization VCM spring manufacturing
- precision metal photo etching
- photo etching of hard-to-machine materials from 0.004–2 mm
- metal processing from prototype to mass production
- semiconductor probe-pin and test-socket supply
- microchannel cold/cooling plate and heat-sink supply
- photo-etched precision shim spacers
- photo-etched high-precision filters
- 3D internal structures using photo etching + diffusion bonding
- photo-etching tolerance down to ±5 μm