December 19, 2012 - Singapore's Institute of Microelectronics (IME), a research institute of the Science and Engineering Research Council of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), has launched a new multiproject wafer service (MPW) for 2.5D through-silicon interposers, to provide a cost-effective platform for R&D prototyping and proof-of-concept in the technology.

The 2.5D interposer MPW service, supported by IME's 3D through-silicon via (TSV) engineering line, includes the following modules:

• Leveraging industry standard Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools to perform 2.5D TSI design, extraction and verification;


• TSV with critical dimension (CD), e.g. 10-50μm;


• Chip-to-wafer (C2W) interconnects with micro-bump;


• Front and backside redistribution layers (RDL) with thin wafer handling (for thickness down to 100μm and below) with bonding and debonding;


• Under-bump metallurgy (UBM); and


• Chip-to-wafer stacking.

It comes with comprehensive design kits, via and redistribution/bumping technology, as well as packaging and assembly capabilities. It is for academic, research and industrial customers wanting to develop 2.5D research test vehicles with leading-edge designs, materials, and processes to be used in smart phones, tablets, networking and sensors and bio-medical applications.

"Through our MPW platform, our partners will be able to overcome cost and technical hurdles and significantly reduce development time and cost as they transit to mass production," stated Prof. Dim-Lee Kwong, executive director of IME.

IME and Tezzaron teamed up to develop 2.5D silicon interposers in 2011. "Early work from the IME 300mm interposer line has already provided detailed insight into the performance benefits offered by 2.5D interposers," noted Tezzaron CTO Robert Patti.

(Source: A*STAR IME)