February 6, 2013
Rudy Kellner, VP & GM, Electronics Business Unit, FEI
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Rudy Kellner, VP & GM, Electronics Business Unit, FEI
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Advanced
packaging technologies will play an increasingly important role in improving
the performance of integrated circuits. This is particularly true of circuits
intended for mobile applications where space is limited by the handheld nature
of the device, and digital, analog and radio frequency components must be
tightly integrated.
As new packaging technologies are more widely adopted, the
ability to quickly modify completed packages to troubleshoot problems, test
modifications and produce limited quantities of prototypes for customer evaluation
will provide increasing value.
Conventional focused ion beam
(FIB) tools, which use liquid metal sources, have long been used for die-level
modifications, but they cannot remove material fast enough to work effectively
on the scale required for packaging applications.
At the IPFA meeting this
year, Qualcomm and FEI reported the use of high-speed plasma-based FIB to
shorten the R&D cycle in advanced packaging applications, modifying and
testing prototypes in less than a day --
which would have taken weeks with conventional approaches.
Faster
turnaround will accelerate the design and ramp-to-production phases of new
product development and shorten time-to-market for new products, ultimately
conferring significant competitive advantage in the fast-paced market for
mobile electronics.
Rudy Kellner, VP & GM, Electronics Business Unit
FEI
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