Steve DeCollibus, Managing Editor, Semiconductor Packaging News

As the electronics industry evolves, each generation of products adds new feature sets with more functionality and the need to continually reduce costs. Innovation in this kind of arena often dictates solutions that meet these criteria over the actual advancement of a technology. There are exceptions to this. There are companies that view these challenges with a mindset that says if we accept these drivers, we will do it to improve the manufacturing process and performance of the end product.

Tessera has been on the fore front of electronics interconnect and miniaturization since pioneering its first mBGA product in the early 90’s. The technology was adopted by Intel in 1996 and began the revolution in chip scale packaging. Tessera is a proven innovator who continues to lead the semiconductor packaging industry.

Manisha Sharma, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Tessera Technologies

I recently enjoyed speaking with Manisha Sharma, senior product marketing manager, and Sean Moran, product marketing manager at Tessera who are responsible for the launch of the new mPILR technology that is sure to continue the company’s position as innovative leaders of this segment of the industry.

mPILR (micro pin interconnect layer) technology is the next evolution in packaging technology developed by Tessera. Sean said “We have taken the solder sphere out of the equation in packaging and replaced it with mPILR contacts, which is a flexible interconnect technology that can be used throughout the hierarchy of connections for semiconductor packaging, including die to substrate, package to PCB and layer to layer within substrates.”

Sean Moran, Product Marketing Manager, Tessera Technologies

Manisha said, “What we have developed with mPILR is a technology that provides a revolutionary space in the industry utilizing evolutionary methodologies for manufacturing.” Manisha went on to say, “We like to relate mPILR in the packaging industry as a cost-effective, revolutionary technology that will allow for the significant jumps in size and performance that the market can make with the products companies are developing.”

In the mPILR technology platform, pins are formed directly onto substrates and are typically nickel/gold plated copper. They currently range from 25 to 175 microns in height and 40 to 200 microns in pin tip diameter, with height and diameter dimensions varying depending on the application.

In a die-to-package substrate application, mPILR technology is capable of enabling contact pitches down to 100 microns. In package-to-PCB applications, pitches down to 0.3 mm or lower can be achieved; and within package substrates, pitches of 150 micron or lower are possible.

Tessera is currently involved in a demonstration of the technology building a high-density package stacking application. The company is working closely with one of the world’s preeminent semiconductor manufacturers to develop an 8-die Flash package stack that is less than 1.2 mm thick. A key benefit being realized in this demonstration is that each individual package can be tested prior to stacking, resulting in near 100% stacked yield.

µPILR POP v.s. Conventional BGA POP

Another key benefit of the technology is lower profile. The replacement of solder balls with mPILR pins reduces package height up to 50% over BGA technologies used today. Manisha said “We have developed a 150 micron package that we believe is the world’s thinnest individually testable and stackable package.”

In addition, the highly co-planar aspect of the mPILR pins are designed to enable socketless testing if needed, which can reduce testing cost, simplify testing, reduce test socket maintenance, and help to minimize the parasitics associated with high-speed testing today. The packages’ repeatable testability should lead to accelerated product development and time to market.

mPILR is the next technology advancement of BGA, using existing surface mount infrastructure that exists today. It allows for smaller and thinner packages with finer pitch and higher IO counts. It has a higher reliability in terms of board-level reliability, electrical performance and thermal performance in all aspects when compared to current BGA packaging technology.

Listening to Sean and Manisha discuss this innovation reveals a level of excitement and energy for this technology that is palpable and leads you to the conclusion that innovation is alive and well at Tessera. You are also left with the feeling that the electronics packaging industry is on the verge of taking another big leap into the future of electronics manufacturing and design.