Processes and Technology

48V Ecosystem and Power Packaging Trends

With each passing year, emerging growth application areas such as Automotive, Cloud Computing, Industrial Automation, and Telecom (5G) Infrastructure are garnering more attention. Although the application segments are different, there is a commonality in how voltage conversion and power distribution are achieved at the system level. System demands are becoming...

Carrier Wafers for Semiconductor and MEMS Manufacturing

As technology rapidly moves forward, the reduction of device and chip size is playing an important role in implementing as many chips and sensors in the smallest space. For this reason, the thickness reduction of semiconductor wafers is necessary. Thin semiconductor wafers (thickness around 50-100 µm) are flexible and fragile....

Temporary Bonding and Mold Process to Enable Next-Gen FOWLP

Temporary wafer bonding processes were initially developed for enabling three-dimensional (3D) stacked integrated circuits (ICs). For example, dies can be stacked on top of each other using die-to-wafer stacking to create 3D IC stacks. Through-Si vias (TSVs) and microbumps are used to interconnect the finished dies. These techniques require the...

A Look Inside The 3D Technology Toolbox For STCO

System-technology co-optimization (STCO) – enabled by 3D integration technologies – is seen as a next ‘knob’ for continuing the scaling path. In this article, we will unravel the STCO principle, open up the 3D technology toolbox and bring up two promising cases: logic on memory, and backside power delivery. After DTCO...

Addressing the Challenges of Surface Preparation for Advanced Wafer Level Packaging

As the semiconductor industry shifts focus from CMOS scaling to heterogeneous integration, the importance of surface preparation and wafer cleans during semiconductor device manufacturing is migrating from front-end wafer processing to back-end wafer level packaging processes. This, due to a combination of high-reliability applications, such as autonomous vehicles, 5G, artificial...

Replacing NMP: Are You Ready?

NMP is an abbreviation for N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (other synonyms are 1-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone and 1-Methyl-2-pyrrolidinone) (Figure 1). NMP has proven itself as an effective and versatile cleaning agent, removing photoresist residue while leaving the surface in good shape for processing steps downstream. However, its time may be short-lived as companies strive to meet...

The Fundamentals and Early History of Quantum Mechanical Tunneling

The mid-1920’s were the miracle years for quantum mechanics. The “Old Quantum Theory” originating with Niels Bohr, had reached crisis point by the end of 1924. Wave-particle duality from Einstein and de Broglie called for something new. The great theorists, Heisenberg, Born, Jordan, Schrödinger, and Dirac, published different formulations of a new theory that were quickly shown to be equivalent descriptions of quantum...

 Integrated Solid-state Capacitors Based on Carbon Nanostructure 

The constant demand for miniaturization, added functionality and increased performance of electronic devices systematically drives higher integration by adding more devices on a single chip. In addition, 3-D or 2.5-D packaging, require on-chip or in-package capacitors, not only in traditional integrated circuits but also for integrated components, possibly on interposers,...

Lam Research: SABRE 3D

SABRE® 3D is a next-generation electroplating product designed to meet leading-edge production requirements for advanced packaging applications.  This product leverages proprietary front-end manufacturing technology and offers market-specific solutions for copper pillar and through-silicon via (TSV) fabrication.  SABRE 3D offers industry-leading throughput along with reduced cost of consumables to enable high economic value...

SPTS: Sigma fxP PVD with Multi-Wafer Degas

SPTS’s Sigma® fxP, is a well established PVD system used in advanced packaging applications such as UBM and RDL. It utilizes batch degas technology that can improve Rc whilst maintaining high throughputs, despite the outgassing challenges posed from the increasing use of organics, such as mold in Fan-Out WLP. Testimonial...

KLA-Tencor: CIRCL-AP™

CIRCL-AP™ is a cluster tool with multiple modules, covering all-surface inspection, metrology and review at high throughput for efficient advanced wafer level packaging (AWLP) process control. The CIRCL-AP provides production-proven, high sensitivity monitoring capability for multiple AWLP applications including 2.5D/3D integration, wafer-level chip scale packaging and fan-out wafer-level packaging. Testimonial...