Global PCB Connections: Rigid-flex and Flexible PCBs—The Backbone of Modern Electronics
Flexible Thinking: The Key to a Successful Flex Circuit Design Transfer
Happy’s Tech Talk #29: Bend-to-Install Semi-flex FR-4
14th Electronic Circuits World Convention
June 20, 2017 | Happy HoldenEstimated reading time: 10 minutes
Henry Utsunomiya is noted for his innovative ideas. This presentation was about semiconductor packaging trends and consisted of four parts:
Background and Motivation—data quantity is increasing exponentially, from 12 zetabytes in 2016 to 40 zetabytes by 2025, system trends in performance increasing exponentially also, while Moore’s Law is coming to an end. As wafer costs rise due to process complexity and yield. Only four companies can provide the most advanced technology: TSMC, Global Foundries, Intel and Samsung
Ending of CMOS—it is projected that semiconductor scaling will end by around 2020
More than Moore (heterogeneous integration)—process scaling will stop supporting diverse functionalities on a single die, instead for cost reasons, die will want to break into specialized components to maximize the value of new and existing process nodes. 3D and die stacking on interposers will generate the best prices for performance (Figure 15)
Summary—high performance will be wafer level packaging while lowest cost and size will be panel level packaging. The next generation of substrate technologies will be (Figure 16):
- Extensions of buildup substrates
- Thin film interposer plus buildup substrate
- Glass substrates
- Rough pitch silicon interposer
- Fine pitch silicon interposer
Figure 15: Next-generation substrate technology comparison. (Source: JPCA 2015 Roadmap and H. Utsunomiya.)
Figure 16: Substrate for mobile computing trends. (Source: Qualcomm, Mod by H. Utsunomiya.)
Closing
The closing was a solemn affair, with only about 20 of us left. Although the conference was well-planned, the unexpected Korean Peninsular tensions led many to leave the show early or avoid coming altogether. The WECC World Conference was officially closed and turned over to the next group to host the conference in 2020, Hong Kong PCA.
KPCA Show
The KPCA show had a good first-day attendance. But then the aisles thinned out over the next two days.
Figures 17 and 18 show an overview of the KPCA Exhibition.
Figures 17 and 18: KPCA exhibition held in conjunction with ECWC14.
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