Novel Molded FCBGA Package Platform For Highly Reliable Automotive Applications


The conventional flip chip ball grid array (FCBGA) package platform has wide industry usage and provides high electrical performance. However, as high performance requirements increased, it encounters significant challenges. FCBGA packages frequently encounter underfill cracks after long term reliability or harsh reliability test conditions for automotive devices. Figure 1 shows the typical und... » read more

Reducing Transistor Capacitance At The 5nm Node Using A Source/Drain Contact Recess


In logic devices such as FinFETs (field-effect transistors), metal gate parasitic capacitance can negatively impact electrical performance. One potential way to reduce this parasitic capacitance is to add a source/drain contact (CT) recess step when building the source/drain metal structure. However, this additional structure can potentially increase the source/drain to via resistance. Using... » read more

Legacy Process Nodes Are Critical To Many Industries


As the semiconductor industry continues to push the boundaries of innovation with advanced nodes, it is easy to overlook the critical role that ICs manufactured at legacy process nodes play in our everyday lives. While the spotlight often shines on the leading-edge advancements of 5nm technology and below, it’s the mature nodes, those above 28nm and even above 130nm, that are the unsung ch... » read more

Semiconductor Photomask Market Poised For Another Year Of Growth


The semiconductor photomask market, a crucial component in chip manufacturing, is on track for another year of robust growth. This growth trajectory is supported by a series of technological advancements and market trends that continue to drive innovation in the industry. As the annual SPIE Photomask Technology Conference approaches in early October in Monterey, California, it presents an oppor... » read more

How Die Dimensions Challenge Assembly Processes


Multi-die assemblies are becoming more common and more complex due to technology advancements and market demands, but differing die dimensions are making this process increasingly challenging. To fully enable a multi-chiplet ecosystem, standardized component handling and interfaces are needed. The underlying concept is similar to LEGO blocks that simply snap together, yet it's nowhere near t... » read more

New Materials Are in High Demand


Materials suppliers are responding to the intense pressures to improve power, performance, scaling, and cost issues, which follows a long timeline from synthesis to development and high volume manufacturing in fabs. The advances in machine learning help present a wide field of candidates, which engineers then narrow to potential use. When building standard logic semiconductor chips, the prim... » read more

Managing EMI in High-Density Integration


The relentless drive for higher performance and increased functional integration has ushered in new challenges for managing electromagnetic interference (EMI) in densely packed mixed-signal environments. Integrating analog, RF, and digital circuits into a single system-on-chip (SoC) or advanced package requires solutions that reduce system size and improve performance. However, this tight in... » read more

Smart Manufacturing, Smart Data-AI, And Future Of Computing


By Melissa Grupen-Shemansky, Pushkar Apte, and Mark da Silva Use of machine learning and artificial intelligence (ML/AI) is on an exponential rise across fields1 including all aspects of the semiconductor industry. In the last decade, the use of ML/AI exploded in the areas of speech recognition, facial recognition, smart phone features, search engines and now large language models like Chat... » read more

3.5D: The Great Compromise


The semiconductor industry is converging on 3.5D as the next best option in advanced packaging, a hybrid approach that includes stacking logic chiplets and bonding them separately to a substrate shared by other components. This assembly model satisfies the need for big increases in performance while sidestepping some of the thorniest issues in heterogeneous integration. It establishes a midd... » read more

Increasing Roles For Robotics In Fabs


Different types of robots with greater precision and mobility are beginning to be deployed in semiconductor manufacturing, where they are proving both reliable and cost-efficient. Static robots have been used for years inside of fabs, but they now are being supplemented by collaborative robots (cobots), autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), and autonomous humanoid robots to meet growing and widen... » read more

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