March - April 2010 - Chip Scale Review

EDITOR'S OUTLOOKVariety Is the Spice of LifeBut too much is oh, so costly!By Ron Edgar [redgar@chipscalereview.com]SpringÑat lastÑand the Earth isreborn. In my part of Americathe snow is gone, the crocusesare blooming, and the grass is just startingto turn green. The migratory birds arereturning and the peepers are singing inthe swamp. It’s been a long winter andwe struggled with the cold, the wind, thefloods, the power-outages, but like a baddream, we awaken and find it’s all behindus. Life is good. And you know, I’mstarting to feel this way about theeconomic recovery -early days, but fullof promise. But let’s not get too excited:signs are that the recovery in 2010 will bemore modest than some are hoping;however, it will be a whole lot better than2009!I make no apology for talking aboutnanotechnology again: I get excited byits possibilities. The following isadapted from a recent IMEC pressrelease. IMEC, Leuven, Belgium, justannounced PRIMA, a new partnershipunder the EU’s 7th framework programfor ICT (FP7), with the goal ofimproving the efficiency and cost ofsolar cells though the use of metallicnanostructures. Together with IMEC,the project coordinator, the partnersinvolved in PRIMA are Imperial College(London, UK), Chalmers University ofTechnology (Sweden), Photovoltech(Belgium), Quantasol (UK) andAustralian National University(Australia). Certain nanostructuredmetallic surfaces show uniquecharacteristics: they can absorb andintensify light at specific wavelengths.This is because the incoming lightresults in a collective oscillation of theelectrons at the metal’s surface. Thisphenomenon, studied under the nameplasmonics, has many promisingapplications. It can be exploited totransmit optical signals throughnanosized interconnects on chips, innanoparticles that recognize andinteract with biomolecules, or in solarcells. These nanostructures have hugepossibilities, not just in solar, apparently.I read recently about a NEMS structurewhich rolled like a sheet of paper into atube and is so fine it can be used as asyringe capable of penetrating cell wallswithout damage. The possibilities formedical applications are seeminglyendless.As the saying goes, “Variety is thespice of life.” True, but unlike MTV’s“Too much is never enough,” there isa flip side. I was visiting the NationalSemiconductor web site recently and,while I know there are a lot of packagetypes, I was staggered at how many.In their Selection Guide by PackageType they show 42 plastic packagetypes and 15 hermetic types. Nestedunder each type are numbers of actualpackages. Now, I know we need avariety of package types and someneed a few I/Os and some need a lot,but I started thinking about the hugecost of supporting them all. It seemsto me that if we could cut back on thehuge variety that we, as an industry,could save a lot of time and money.Can you imagine if we only had to dealwith half the variety? We could savebillions. What is needed is a visionaryto consolidate and standardize. Whowill take the lead?John H. Lau of the IndustrialTechnology Research Institute, Taiwan,ROC, is the author of our principal featurein this edition. This detailed State-of-theartand Trends in 3D Integration article,with its many detailed illustrations, isworthy of a thorough read since there isso much useful information in it. Die-attachis a big part of our business and KevinChung, PhD, of AI Technology has writtenHigh Temperature Stack-chip, Die-attachAdhesive Developments, reviewingcurrent offerings but pointing out that anew generation is needed. IC Assemblyand Test Market Poised for Growth in2010 is the subject of Ron Molnar’s articleand it analyzes the current market andlooks in detail at the Top 10 in the industry.This article is also a preamble to theextensive Directory of IC PackagingFoundries. Both Ron and the directorycome to us from AZ Tech Direct, LLC.François von Trapp, contributing editor,offers us insight into how Next-GenAdvanced Packages Spell Opportunityfor Burn-in and Test Community. Anotherregular is Sandra Winkler, contributingeditor, who authors our Emerging Trendscolumn. She writes on the EconomicOutlook for 2010. Be sure to check outour Industry News and What’s New pagesfor the latest in what is happening and alook at some new products.I like spring. The sudden appearanceof vivid colors after the winter drab isheartwarming and encouraging of thefuture. Unlike nature, for man-madethings too much variety can be bad interms of the cost. So let’s look to wherewe can economize and if one design willdo, why make two?6Chip Scale Review. March/April 2010 . [ChipScaleReview.com]