Fan-in WLCSP matures, what's next? IMT on the role ... - I-Micronews

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 0 i s s u e n ° 1 4
N e w s l e t t e r o n 3 D I C , T S V , W L P & E m b e d d e d T e c h n o l o g i e s
“… Silicon <strong>in</strong>terposers are currently s<strong>in</strong>gle-sided relatively
expensive <strong>in</strong>terconnection media compared to other comparable
density PCB-based technologies …” accord<strong>in</strong>g to Ted Tessier,
FlipChip International
for TCE match<strong>in</strong>g or additional functionality <strong>in</strong> the
form of power rout<strong>in</strong>g and passive components.
Other than these segments, widespread adoption
isn’t expected.
<strong>Fan</strong>-<strong>in</strong> WLP market growth
The application space is limited to high-end
products for large silicon <strong>in</strong>terposers, accord<strong>in</strong>g
to Beyne, like those with <strong>in</strong>tegrated functionalities
such as ESD, RF, power-conversion modules.
“… Silicon <strong>in</strong>terposers are currently s<strong>in</strong>glesided
relatively expensive <strong>in</strong>terconnection media
compared to other comparable density PCB-based
technologies …” accord<strong>in</strong>g to Ted Tessier, FlipChip
International
Tessier doesn’t expect to see widespread
adoption of silicon <strong>in</strong>terposers <strong>in</strong> the foreseeable
future. “Silicon <strong>in</strong>terposers are currently s<strong>in</strong>glesided
relatively expensive <strong>in</strong>terconnection media
compared to other comparable density PCBbased
technologies,” he expla<strong>in</strong>s. “Although
there may be some niche opportunities for them
<strong>in</strong> high-performance packag<strong>in</strong>g applications, the
costs <strong>in</strong>volved will be prohibitive. There has been
considerable <strong>in</strong>dustry mention recently <strong>in</strong> the area
of TSV-based double-sided silicon <strong>in</strong>terposers.
Though such double-sided silicon substrates
should provide improved 3D functional <strong>in</strong>tegration
potential, the added costs of z-axis process<strong>in</strong>g will
likely provide significant cost obstacles relative to
other options. If anyth<strong>in</strong>g, silicon <strong>in</strong>terposers will
likely contribute to a higher rate of f<strong>in</strong>e-pitch flip
chip usage at pitches below the practical pitches
of lam<strong>in</strong>ate and other substrate technologies—
typically 100µm pitch or less.”
Widespread adoption will occur only if the 3D
packag<strong>in</strong>g solutions without an <strong>in</strong>terposer are
found to take longer time to develop and an <strong>in</strong>terim
solution is needed, says Stepniak. Otherwise, it’s
a cost adder that will be targeted for elim<strong>in</strong>ation.
Kress believes that <strong>in</strong>terposers will be used for
certa<strong>in</strong> applications, but aren’t likely to be adopted
across the board, and will contribute only a small
amount to fan-<strong>in</strong> <strong>WLCSP</strong> usage.
And Strothmann sums it up: Silicon <strong>in</strong>terposers
have market segments where<strong>in</strong> they add value
Yole estimates that fan-<strong>in</strong> <strong>WLCSP</strong> now accounts
for more than 6% of all IC packages worldwide.
Growth of WLP-type packages is expected to
cont<strong>in</strong>ue, with the general consensus <strong>in</strong> the
<strong>in</strong>dustry be<strong>in</strong>g that it will likely reach between 15 to
20% of the market with<strong>in</strong> the <strong>next</strong> decade.
Interest<strong>in</strong>gly, Tessier believes that chip embedd<strong>in</strong>g
WLP will displace wafer-based fan-out technology
options like RCP and eWLB due to the very broad
supply base for high-density PCBs.
And Strothmann expects that penetration of these
advanced markets will cont<strong>in</strong>ue to be limited,
but given the rapid <strong>in</strong>crease <strong>in</strong> form factor driven
products, estimates it may comprise as much as
15% of all IC packages <strong>in</strong> the <strong>next</strong> few years.
Emerg<strong>in</strong>g WLP technologies
Will the success of fan-<strong>in</strong> <strong>WLCSP</strong> pave the way to
further development of emerg<strong>in</strong>g 3D stack<strong>in</strong>g with
TSV? Or fan-out <strong>WLCSP</strong> technologies?
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