Challenges With Chiplets And Power Delivery


Chiplets hold the potential to deliver the same PPA benefits as an SoC, but with many more features and options that are possible on a reticle-constrained die. If chiplets live up to the hype, they will deliver what is essentially mass customization, democratizing and speeding the delivery of complex chips across a broad array of markets. Today, the focus has been on die-to-die interfaces, but ... » read more

Predicting Warpage in Different Types of IC Stacks At Early Stage Of Package Design


A new technical paper titled "Warpage Study by Employing an Advanced Simulation Methodology for Assessing Chip Package Interaction Effects" was published by researchers at Siemens EDA, D2S, and Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CEA, Leti. Abstract: "A physics-based multi-scale simulation methodology that analyses die stress variations generated by package fabrication is employed for warpage study. The ... » read more

Elimination Of Die-Pop Defect By Vacuum Reflow For Ultrathin Die With Warpage In Semiconductor Packaging Assembly


Semiconductor die thickness is getting thinner over time due to improvement of power efficiency in advance power electronic packages. Ultrathin die with convex warpage can easily deteriorate the solder void removal process during solder reflow, leading to various packaging reliability issues. In particular, a new type of packaging defect phenomenon—die-pop—is observed. Vacuum reflow process... » read more

New Insights Into IC Process Defectivity


Finding critical defects in manufacturing is becoming more difficult due to tighter design margins, new processes, and shorter process windows. Process marginality and parametric outliers used to be problematic at each new node, but now they are persistent problems at several nodes and in advanced packaging, where there may be a mix of different technologies. In addition, there are more proc... » read more

Building Better Bridges In Advanced Packaging


The increasing challenges and rising cost of logic scaling, along with demands for an increasing number of features, are pushing more companies into advanced packaging. And while that opens up a slew of new options, it also is causing widespread confusion over what works best for different processes and technologies. At its core, advanced packaging depends on reliable interconnects, well-def... » read more

Challenges Of Heterogeneous Integration


Heterogeneous integration opens the door to an almost unlimited number of features in a single package, but it also adds system-level challenges into a small space filled with a whole spectrum of possible interactions. Mike Kelly, vice president of chiplets/FCBGA integration at Amkor Technology, talks about a variety of issues ranging from uneven aging, warpage, and different mechanical stresse... » read more

Mechanical Challenges Rise With Heterogeneous Integration


Companies integrating multiple chips or chiplets into a package will need to address structural and other mechanical engineering issues, but gaps in the design tools, new materials and interconnect technologies, and a shortage of expertise are making it difficult to address those issues. Throughout most of the history of the semiconductors, few people outside of foundries worried about struc... » read more

Managing Thermal-Induced Stress In Chips


At advanced nodes and in the most advanced packages, physics is no one's friend. Escalating density, smaller features, and thinner dies make it more difficult to dissipate heat, and they increase mechanical stress. On the flip side, thinner dielectrics and tighter spaces make it more difficult to insulate and protect against that heat, and in conjunction with those smaller features and higher d... » read more

Unknowns And Challenges In Advanced Packaging


Dick Otte, CEO of Promex Industries, sat down with Semiconductor Engineering to talk about unknowns in material properties, the impact on bonding, and why environmental factors are so important in complex heterogeneous packages. What follows are excerpts of that conversation. SE: Companies have been designing heterogeneous chips to take advantage of specific applications or use cases, but th... » read more

IC Stresses Affect Reliability At Advanced Nodes


Thermal-induced stress is now one of the leading causes of transistor failures, and it is becoming a top focus for chipmakers as more and different kinds of chips and materials are packaged together for safety- and mission-critical applications. The causes of stress are numerous. In heterogeneous packages, it can stem from multiple components composed of different materials. “These materia... » read more

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