Disruptive Impact of Fan-out WLP Growth Coming for Electronics Industry

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Fan-out wafer level packaging (FO-WLP) is a disruptive technology that will have a significant impact on the electronics industry in the coming years. WLP has seen strong growth, especially in the mobile devices, because it provides a low-profile package that meets the requirements of many smartphone makers. Billions of WLPs are shipped each year and FO-WLP adoption will drive the number even higher. In its new report, TechSearch International projects an 87% CAGR for FO-WLPs in unit volumes over the next 5 years.

As companies move to the next semiconductor technology node, smaller die are possible, allowing a greater number of die per wafer. At the same time the number of I/Os is increasing, and to route them a conventional WLP would require small diameter solder balls with fine pitch. Qualcomm has published information on the reliability challenges of going to ≤0.35mm pitch with a conventional fan-in WLP.

FO-WLP is an attractive solution that allows companies to continue taking advantage of the powerful economics of die shrink, while also meeting the small form factor, low-profile package requirements of mobile devices. FO-WLP is disruptive technology because there is no substrate and thin-film metallization is used for interconnect instead of bumps or wires. In the case of a face-up process, the die has a thick Cu post, but not a Cu pillar with a solder cap. The use of redistribution layers patterned with semiconductor technology makes it possible to achieve much finer feature sizes ≤5µm lines and spaces, than conventional organic substrate technologies.

With the use of FO-WLP for the logic bottom package in a package-on-package (PoP) configuration, the ultra thin target of <0.8mm PoP can be met. The only lower-profile PoP with memory and logic is a 3D IC memory and logic stack using through silicon vias (TSVs). Such an approach is costly, however and there are no thermal solutions for this stack in mobile applications.