Frequently Asked Questions

What services does ProEx offer?

ProEx provides value-added semiconductor services designed to support production readiness and reduce risk in your supply chain. Our core services include:

  • Device Programming (offline, production-ready)

  • Tape & Reel Packaging

  • First Article Verification

  • 2D and 3D Optical Inspection

  • Baking and Dry Packaging (MSL reset)

  • Traceability, reporting, and data control

All services are engineered to meet industry standards and integrate seamlessly into your manufacturing flow.

Why it matters:
Consolidating device programming, tape & reel packaging, inspection, and MSL handling within a single, controlled value-added service provider reduces supply-chain complexity and manufacturing risk.

ProEx’s offline semiconductor programming and production-ready packaging ensure components arrive fully programmed, verified, and compliant with JEDEC and EIA standards—minimizing line interruptions, rework, and quality escapes.

This approach improves time-to-market, protects yield, and allows OEMs and contract manufacturers to maintain predictable, high-throughput SMT production.

What is a First Article?

A First Article is a controlled sample produced before any production orders are released. It is created using the datafile you provide, configurations you specify, creating the checksum you’re expecting to see.

What lead times do you offer?

Our standard turn time for most orders is three business days or less, once material is received and requirements are confirmed.

For urgent needs, expedite options—including same-day service—are available, subject to capacity and job complexity.

What are Tape & Reel services?

Tape & Reel is a packaging process that places electronic components into carrier tape, seals them with cover tape, and winds them onto reels. This format is required by most modern SMT assembly lines.

ProEx Tape & Reel services:

  • Comply with EIA-481 and JEDEC standards

  • Support a wide range of package types and sizes

  • offering automated 2D and 3D optical inspection

  • Offer standard and custom carrier tape solutions

The result is production-ready components that feed reliably into automated assembly equipment.

Why it matters:
Proper tape and reel packaging is essential to maintaining SMT line efficiency, pick-and-place accuracy, and component integrity. When combined with 3D optical inspection, tape and reel services provide an additional layer of risk mitigation by verifying component presence, orientation, coplanarity, and physical integrity before packaging.

This ensures components are packaged to EIA-481 standards, protected from handling damage and moisture exposure, and free from bent leads, stacking, or misplacement.

The result is production-ready tape and reel that reduces misfeeds, prevents line stoppages, improves placement yields, and minimizes costly rework or quality escapes in high-volume manufacturing environments.

What are unique security keys?

Unique security keys are individual cryptographic keys that are provisioned into each device during secure provisioning to establish a root of trust and enable secure device identity and operation. These keys serve as secret credentials that are unique to each unit and are used for authentication, encryption, and secure communications throughout the device’s lifecycle.

These keys are securely written to protected memory on the device and are designed so they cannot be read, altered, or cloned after provisioning.

You can rea more about secure IoT device provisioning and reducing complexity by reading about the system we use for provisioning,

Data I/O SentriX

What are Programming services?

Programming services involve loading firmware, software, configuration data, or security keys directly into semiconductor devices prior to PCB assembly.

ProEx provides offline device programming, which:

  • Eliminates programming from your SMT line

  • Reduces production risk and downtime

  • Ensures data integrity and revision control

  • Supports high-volume, high-mix production

Each programmed device is verified before shipment to ensure accuracy and reliability.

Why it matters:
For automotive, aerospace, defense, and other high-reliability applications, offline semiconductor programming provides the control, verification, and traceability required to meet zero-defect expectations.

Programming devices outside the SMT line allows for controlled access, validated algorithms, serialization, and full data logging prior to assembly. This approach reduces the risk of latent defects, mis programmed devices, and configuration escapes that can compromise functional safety, reliability, and compliance.

By delivering fully programmed, verified, and production-ready components, offline programming supports predictable manufacturing outcomes, long-term field reliability, and adherence to stringent quality and regulatory requirements.

What is device serialization?

Device serialization is the process of assigning a unique identifier to each individual device during programming or packaging. This identifier is electronically written to the device and/or associated with the production record.

Serialization enables:

  • Individual device traceability

  • Lot and revision control

  • Enhanced quality containment and recall capability

  • Alignment with customer, regulatory, and industry requirements

Serialized data is captured and retained as part of the job record, providing full traceability throughout the production lifecycle.