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Nolan’s Notes: Advanced Packaging

“Is multifurcated even a word? I hope so because that’s what it looks like in advanced packaging.” —Chuck Bauer

Chuck Bauer is well known as an expert in semiconductor packaging. He’s also the organizer of the SMTA Pan-Pacific Conference, so a chat over lunch with him is time well spent. He asked me that question over lunch as we were discussing how new packaging methods were making their way into industrial usage. Well, Chuck, according to multiple online dictionaries, multifurcated means to be multi-divided or forked off from a common source. Your observation is astute.

Advanced packaging is not new to our coverage. Over the past two years, we’ve written about the heterogenous integration roadmap (PCB007 Magazine, October 2020), as well as reported on the October 2022 IPC Advanced Packaging Symposium in Washington, D.C. This is a topic wherein printed circuit manufacturing and semiconductor manufacturing begin to converge.

As we prepped this issue for publication, I noted Taiwan-based TSMC announced its decision to increase its semiconductor investment in its new Arizona facility from $12 billion to $40 billion¹. Nearly simultaneously, Apple announced its intention (along with AMD and NVIDIA) to use the U.S. manufactured chips in their products². This news makes for good public relations events, but there is still that nagging issue: a lack of packaging services in the U.S. to support those chips. As it stands, it seems that all the silicon from TSMC Arizona will still be shipped to Asia for packaging. Two trips across the Pacific, it seems to me, is a longer supply chain, not a shorter one. No wonder packaging capabilities are a common area of discussion when the topic is semiconductors.

Regular readers of the IPC Government Relations newsletter, as well as announcements from USPAE and PCBAA, are all too aware that there is plenty of news here. In fact, in a Dec. 16, 2022, article from IPC’s Chris Mitchell titled “IPC Goes Deep on Advanced Packaging in 2022,” you learn that while the mainstream media is actively covering this story, they don’t fully grasp the idea that semiconductors are the headwaters of the stream that leads to a working piece of technology in their home. Industry experts will tell you that advanced packaging comprises R&D and manufacturing. So, outside of Asia, any conversation about advanced packaging necessarily includes discussion of the technology and the supply chain pretty much simultaneously. Nevertheless, all this dialogue in the news simply shines another spotlight on advanced packaging and confirms our reasoning for a focus here.

Now, during my conversation with Chuck Bauer, he outlined all the different packaging technologies either entering the market, or currently under R&D development. It’s not an either/or choice; in other words, multiple packaging choices are coming our way. This topic fits under the heterogenous integration banner, of course—the technology for extending Moore’s Law by allowing an IC system to be broken into multiple chips which are then combined to configure the final product. Hopefully we’ll be able to coax Chuck into sharing more on upcoming packaging technologies in future issues.

It's one thing to design the packages; it’s another thing altogether to do the packaging at production volumes. As is true for much of our leading-edge technology, the United States leads the way in development, but then outsources the humdrum manufacturing overseas. The goal of the CHIPS Act is to begin turning the tide. In February, NIST will begin accepting proposals for CHIPS Act programs. NIST has stated in presentations that it will be looking for and approving proposals that help bring additional capabilities to printed circuit boards and packaging alongside semiconductor buildout. Are you writing a proposal?

This is such a big topic that we’ve dedicated all three I-Connect007 January issues to advanced packaging. Just like the advent of surface mount, advanced packaging brings changes to both PCB fabrication and PCB assembly. Even still, we’ll only be cracking the book open on this topic; there will be much more to cover over time.

For this issue of SMT007 Magazine, we contacted industry experts on packaging technologies to get their perspective on advanced packaging, and followed up with many of the participants in the IPC symposium, seeking a deeper dive into their presentations. We found enthusiastic voices willing to share their concerns, solutions, and R&D work with you.

To this end, we open with an interview with IPC Chief Technologist Matt Kelly, who helps define advanced packaging. Getting a bit more specific, Intel’s Tom Rucker describes how advanced packaging will allow for more configuration inside the package, Sam Sadri from QP Technologies shares how OCPP techniques allow new IC systems to be used in retrofit situations, and Tom Bergeron of Integra shares insight on how die prep will change with advances in packaging.

Equally important, MX2’s Divyash Patel returns this month with more perspective on the upcoming CMMC milestone dates and why, if you haven’t started certification yet, you may find yourself in a bind mid-year.

Finally, we’re always grateful for our columnists including Jennie Hwang, Michael Ford, and Ron Lasky. Each provides such a unique perspective from their many years of professional experience. Jennie, for example, has been writing for I-Connect007 for more than two decades, and provides insight into how she made a pivotal switch from chemistry to engineering and the impact it has had.

As you’ll see, Bauer’s three-dollar word fits not only the advanced packaging subject matter, but with all our content, it’s multi-directional stemming from the same initial source.

Happy New Year, and we hope to see you at IPC APEX EXPO 2023 in San Diego.

References

1. “TSMC triples Arizona chip plant investment, Biden hails project,” by Steve Holland and Jane Lanhee Lee, Dec. 6, 2022, Reuters.
2. “Apple, NVIDIA to be first customers of TSMC Arizona chip plant,” by Cheng Ting-Fang, Dec. 5, 2022, Nikkei Asia.

This column appears in the January 2023 issue of SMT007 Magazine.