Powering the Future: Why Thermal Management Defines the Future of Electronics
Standard of Excellence: Engineering Is the New Sales—How Technical Collaboration Wins Business
SMT Perspectives & Prospects: Artificial Intelligence, Part 7—Data Module 2
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.
Page 5 of 6
Share on:
Testimonial
"Your magazines are a great platform for people to exchange knowledge. Thank you for the work that you do."
Simon Khesin - Schmoll MaschinenSuggested Items
Nortech Systems Launches Power over Fiber Technology Platform for EMI-Sensitive Applications
04/08/2026 | Globe NewswireNortech Systems Incorporated, a leading provider of design and manufacturing solutions for complex electromedical devices and electromechanical systems, has announced the launch of its Power over Fiber technology platform.
Flexible Thinking: Designing Flex Circuits for Dynamic Reliability
04/09/2026 | Joe Fjelstad -- Column: Flexible ThinkingFlex circuits flex. No surprises there. However, they are also very commonly designed into products because they are thin and offer consistent thickness and dielectric properties, attributes highly prized by present-day product designers of personal electronics. This would include smartphones and, increasingly, wearable electronics for medical monitoring and even fashion.
Understanding Tolerances in Flexible Circuit Design
04/01/2026 | Chris Clark, Flexible Circuit TechnologiesThe challenge with cumulative tolerances is meeting the dimensional requirements for items dimensioned on a drawing or specification for a flexible or rigid-flex circuit. It is critical to understand the fabrication processes and how features are defined when creating your tolerance requirements.
Target Condition: An Exploration of Flooding PCB Layers
04/02/2026 | Kelly Dack -- Column: Target ConditionThe concept of flooding PCB layers with copper has been around for so long, you’d think we’d have it mastered. We haven’t. (Oh, and by “we,” I mean design engineers and the software tools we depend on.) Years ago, PCB artwork was created by hand using light tables, with tape applied to Mylar. Signals were slow, traces were relatively wide, and high-current paths were simply “beefed up” with wider copper. Signal integrity wasn’t yet a driving concern. Today, solid return paths are fundamental to robust design. We understand the importance of continuous reference planes for signal integrity and EMI control.
New, Greener Solutions for Etch: Novel Copper Extraction
03/30/2026 | Richard Nichols, GreenSource Engineering“Novel” is a typical marketing phrase that implies new and unique, but often “novel” actually means an established technology being applied to a new field or application. This, in turn, is often driven by newly relevant external motivation. GreenSource has been working on just such a solution: novel copper extraction, offering a better and greener alternative to traditional LLE control systems for cupric chloride etch.