News Article
NANIUM Extends eWLB to Achieve Higher Reliability
NANIUM S.A., Europe's largest outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) service provider, has announced the introduction of an improved dielectric material and process solution for its fan-out wafer-level packaging (FOWLP) technology, embedded wafer-level ball grid array (eWLB). These improvements increase eWLB's reliability, thereby extending the existing technology platform into more demanding markets and applications including medical devices, aerospace and automotive, among others.
The first eWLB products manufactured using this improved material/process solution, which was developed by NANIUM in cooperation with one of its key customers and their respective material suppliers, cover a wide range of package configurations, mainly in terms of package size and thickness. They have been successfully qualified for two of NANIUM's leading eWLB customers and are ramping to volume production.
"We are investing significant resources and effort to advance our flagship packaging technology," said Armando Tavares, president and CEO of NANIUM. "Achieving this higher reliability level gives eWLB technology access to new applications and markets, presenting us with a wide range of opportunities."
According to Jan Vardaman, president and CEO of Techsearch International, market research data shows that more than 600M FOWLP packages were shipped in 2012 and she expects the market to more than double in units by 2017. Devices using this package include baseband processors, RF, and wireless combo chips, as well as application processors and integrated power management devices. "FOWLP is an attractive solution for a variety of reasons. One is that it offers a low profile package that can handle high I/Os found in application processors," noted Vardaman. "It can also be a form of system in package (SiP) where multiple die from different silicon technology nodes are incorporated into a single package with a small form factor."
eWLB is a cost-optimized FOWLP technology that reduces form factor while increasing the number of I/Os. It provides superior electrical and thermal performance due to shorter and more precise interconnections, as well as reduced material layers, making it especially suited to very-high-frequency applications. Nanium's new eWLB packages exceed 1,000 cycles in the component-level-based temperature cycling test (TCT -55 to 125°C), according to JEDEC JESD47 (condition B) and 1,000 cycles in the board-levelbased temperature cycling on board test (TCoB -40 to 125 °C), according to IPC-9701 (condition TC3).
