Semiconductor Packaging

Semiconductor Packaging

Semiconductor wafers form the base of integrated circuits, which sustain all present-day technology. Metal, plastic, ceramic, or glass packaging interconnects with the environment, preventing wafers from chemical contamination, impact, light, and heat. The semiconductor industry generally considers the back-end process of packaging less important than the front-end processes of designing and fabricating wafers, as wafers can still be packaged using old-generation equipment. Outsourced semiconductor assembly and test companies (OSATs) handle most of the packaging. Here is all about semiconductor packaging:

Materials Used

Encapsulation Materials: The protective materials for chips from environmental factors, moisture and mechanical stress. Epoxy Molding Compound (EMC) yields a good bond and electrical insulation qualities. Liquid Crystal Polymer (LCP) is more suited for high frequency application.

Interconnect Materials: Generally, manufacturers establish electrical connections through the gold wire bond between the semiconductor chip and the package. They use lead-free solder materials (tin-silver-copper alloy) to attach semiconductor chips to substrates

Substrates: They can either be organic or ceramic. Organic substrates have excellent electrical insulation property and are an inexpensive packaging solution.

Underfills: Underfill addresses the gap that might exist between the semiconductor chip and the substrate to improve their mechanical stability and reliability. Underfills also provide better thermal conductivity reducing the chances of overheating.

Types of Packaging

Quad Flat Package (QFP): It is a classic semiconductor packaging material that is flat and square or rectangular with leads extending from all four sides. The package has several types depending on the size and has features in pin arrangement such as pin arrangement in a grid pattern.

WLP Packaging: This packing method encapsulates many semi-conductive devices before any dicing happens, and hence it is cost-efficient and offers performance benefits. It makes ultra-compact and high-density packaging forms, which are so apt for applications, such as MEMS devices and sensors.

Chip-scale Packages (CSP): They differ from standard packages in that they are almost exactly the same size as the chip itself and hence give rise to minimal wasted space. Typically, CSPs are used in applications where size and weight become a constraint. For example, in mobile devices and wearables. They connect through solder balls or copper pillars of very fine pitch.

Ball Grid Array: array of solder balls underneath the package instead of leads, where such solder balls contact with corresponding pads on PCB. Thus, one can enhance thermal performance while minimizing electrical interference. BGAs can be witnessed being widely used in modern electronics apparatus. Because they are compact, excellent in heat dissipation performances, and can resist mechanical stress.

Future

This long-term change at the end-user software and hardware architecture level must-also-for impact packaging design into the earliest architectural stages when back-end providers can reduce the burden of adopting advanced packaging. After initial selection of an advanced-packaging vendor, a customer is very likely to develop all other projects with that vendor in future. The other plus of owning an IP pool is that it enables customers to quickly meet all their design needs. And without having to repeat the development of some designs or incur unnecessary overhead costs.

Semiconductor Packaging is basically an important tie. A bridge that connects the chip or semiconductor complex with all the devices that can be used in contemporary life. These days, it could very well be the metal can package used in the early days to modern developments in packaging, like 3D integration.

Aditi Sharma

Aditi Sharma

Chemistry student with a tech instinct!