Oct 10, 2012 · By Francoise von Trapp · 3D In-Depth
I didn’t make it to the SEMICON Taiwan SiP Global Summit this year and was hoping to find some coverage by other journalists so that I could at least curate and share the information on the 3D IC Technology Forum. Unfortunately, I didn’t see anything posted on the topic, but...Oct 09, 2012 · By Francoise von Trapp · 3D In-Depth
It’s been one of those Mondays. I started making the coffee this morning (put in a clean filter, poured in the water) before I got sidetracked and hit the shower without ever putting in the grounds or turning it on. Then I left the Impress Labs office without my key...Sep 21, 2012 · By Francoise von Trapp · 3D In-Depth
Somehow the social media “shares” on Friday are more lighthearted than the rest of the week. Today, all the excitement was divided up between the iPhone 5 teardown and the last flight of the spaceshuttle Endeavor, as it toured its way up the California coastline riding piggyback on a 747....Sep 20, 2012 · By Francoise von Trapp · 3D In-Depth
I always hesitate to cove 3D transistors, because before they came along, I only focused on what I knew to be 3D – ie: 3D stacked packages, 2.5D interposers and 3D ICs. And that was confusing enough. But then along came Intel’s Tri-Gate technology, claiming the 3D moniker as its...Sep 14, 2012 · By Francoise von Trapp · 3D Event Coverage
I spent this whole week at IMAPS 2012 in San Diego, and tweeted live from the event. Sometimes in the Twitter world, it’s difficult to extract full meaning from 140 character tweets, especially when they’re full of hashtags and @othertwitterhandles. And sometimes, we read them and ask, what was the...Sep 10, 2012 · By Francoise von Trapp · 3D Event Coverage
SEMICON Europa got underway yesterday, and reports from the event point to new materials, 450mm and 3D ICs as the key topics – all from the European perspective. According to SEMI Europe President, Heinz Kundert, Europe has reached a critical crossroads where its very future as a global competitor seems...Aug 24, 2012 · By Francoise von Trapp · 3D In-Depth
Some of the best news to read (especially on a Friday) is non-news, like this report by Ann Steffora Mutschler, in SemiMD on how 3D ICs will not impact computational lithography tools. According to her sources, this particularly true with regards to TSVs, because of their large size in comparison...Aug 14, 2012 · By Francoise von Trapp · 3D In-Depth
I’ve come across a few interesting announcements in the 3D space today that separately are just random bits of news, but when bundled together, demonstrate acceleration to 3D commercialization. When you think about it, we’re more than halfway to Q1 2013, which has been earmarked by Micron as when 2...Jul 14, 2012 · By Francoise von Trapp · 3D Event Coverage
We read a lot about the remaining challenges to be addressed before 3D ICs are fully commercialized. Current roadmaps are now targeting 2015 for commercialization of 3D ICs, while 2.5D gets the ball rolling towards the end of 2012, beginning of 2013. Reports from Xilinx indicate they are shipping 2.5D...Jun 06, 2012 · By Francoise von Trapp · 3D In-Depth
After seeing the latest press release on Ziptronix foray into the memory space, I sought out Kathy Cook, business development manager at Ziptronix, at ECTC to get the full story. We’ve been reading and hearing a lot about Ziptronix ZiBond process being used in CMOS image sensor (BSI) technology, and particularly...May 22, 2012 · By Francoise von Trapp · 3D In-Depth
We’ve all heard it: Wide I/O DRAM on Logic using TSV interconnects will be THE solution for achieving the high performance/low power needs of next generation devices, beginning with the high performance computing and making its way into gaming processors, smartphones and tablets. To listen to the experts, meeting such...May 12, 2012 · By Francoise von Trapp · Design
There are a couple of notable updates circulating this week involving companies in the 3D space. The first I saw was news from Sony that it has introduced its next-generation CMOS Image sensor they claim is “ the industry's smallest, CMOS image sensor and camera system”. The image sensor is...Dec 21, 2011 · By Francoise von Trapp · 3D In-Depth
At RTI’s 3D ASIP last week, I sat down with Paul Enquist, of Ziptronix, to get an update on the company’s progress with its direct bonding technologies. Paul presented on Day 2 of the conference, but honored me with a one-on-one explanation on the application space enabled by the company’s...Oct 13, 2011 · By Francoise von Trapp · 3D In-Depth
To listen to John Lau, of ITRI, speak on the topic of 3D integration is to experience a passion for technology that rivals no other; except perhaps that of Rao Tummala of Georgia Tech. But John is definitely more vocal in his passion. Rao has a softer, gentler approach. At...Aug 22, 2011 · By Francoise von Trapp · 3D In-Depth
At SEMICON West 2011, Prof. Rao Tummala of Georgia Tech presented the unique glass and silicon-based 3D Interposer technologies being developed at Georgia Tech, claimed to be simpler and cheaper than 3D ICs with TSV for many mobile and consumer applications at SemiconWest 2011. in his presentation, Tummala discussed the...Jul 29, 2011 · By Francoise von Trapp · 3D In-Depth
When we talk about 3D integration, we’re generally talking about 3D ICs driven by mobile market performance needs. But in the power semiconductor market, computing application performance needs are also spiking due to the increase of content like broadband mobile video and 4G communications. At the same time, telecommunications and...Jul 25, 2011 · By Francoise von Trapp · 3D Event Coverage
In this brave new world powered by consumer electronic devices that cater to the user experience, smartphones and tablets are in the driver’s seat; pushing researchers to the very limits of possibility. At imec’s technology form on Smartphones, held for the first time during SEMICON West, researchers from the institute...Apr 13, 2011 · By Francoise von Trapp · 3D In-Depth
Coverage of the GSA Memory Conference continues in this week's issue of Chip Scale Review Tech Monthly. Francoise von Trapp contributed this article. While there continue to be incremental improvements and innovations in single chip packaging technologies, it’s nothing compared to the focus on multi-chip assembly and packaging technologies. Whether...Oct 11, 2010 · By Francoise von Trapp · 3D In-Depth
Designing and building a prototype MEMS device with TSVs in it is pretty much unheard of. As Alissa Fitzgerald, Ph.D., founder and managing member of AM Fitzgerald &Associates explains it, TSVs don’t get introduced into a device until it’s in volume production, rather MEMS devices are developed with either a...Oct 11, 2010 · By Francoise von Trapp · 3D In-Depth
One of the main themes of last week’s MEMS Executive Congress was to “think outside the chip” (Roger Grace, of Roger Grace Associates) and rather, think of MEMS in terms of the system. However, to do that, there needs to be interaction between everyone involved in developing said system, including...
