Reportlinker Adds 3D Silicon and Glass Interposers

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Oct 19, 2010, 01:43 ET

NEW YORK, Oct. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Reportlinker.com announces that a new market research report is available in its catalogue:

3D Silicon and Glass Interposers

http://www.reportlinker.com/p0316304/3D-Silicon-and-Glass-Interposers.html

FOCUS OF THE REPORT

This report contains a list of all the 3D silicon/glass interposer opportunities by application. We analyze the key drivers, expected benefits, and the various technology options and alternatives. In addition we will cover the 3D interposer industry players and the respective supply chain changes.

MARKET AND TECHNOLOGY TRENDS

Several concurrent factors account for the growing momentum of 3D silicon and glass interposers: the continuously increasing gap between printed circuit boards and integrated circuits, both in terms of geometries and materials, has driven research and development of new innovative semiconductor assembly and packaging solutions over the past 10 years, including System-in-Package (SiP), Package-on-package (PoP), flip-chip Ball grid Array (fc-BGA) or more recently fan-out Wafer Level Packaging. The introduction of these recent technologies fills the gap by offering finer pitch interconnections and by alleviating the external IO interface thanks to recombined interconnections inside the package. However, a growing number of industry players now claim that the gap has become so wide that a new disruptive technology, such as 3D silicon or glass interposers, is needed.

Concurrently, the so-called "mid-end infrastructure" (foundries for wafer-level packaging operations) has developed at an unprecedented pace over the past 3 years to meet the growing demand for Wafer-Level Chip-Scale Packaging (or "fan-in WLCSP") and flip-chip. These new facilities, half way between front-end foundries and conventional assembly and packaging facilities now support high volume manufacturing on large size wafers, thus permitting economies of scale. These players, in search of growth opportunities, have positioned as service providers for the back-end operations for the making of through silicon vias (TSV's) and other related wafer-level assembly operations. Thanks to 3D silicon/glass interposers, they can go one step further, and actually propose products combined with their service offer.

MYTH, NICHE OR HIGH VOLUME NECESSITY?

The industry is not clear where 3D interposers will have the most impact. These new interposer technologies, based on silicon wafer technologies such as wafer-level photolithography, are introducing thinner and denser substrates which can profoundly change the semiconductor packaging and assembly ecosystem. Of course, the upfront investments can sometimes limit the technology benefits. This report first focuses on the driver applications and the associated drivers by application. For each application, we simulate costs and compare them with projected market prices, we compare the 3D si/glass interposer solution with existing and other emerging alternatives and we derive detailed market and wafer forecasts.

Will 3D silicon/glass interposers be an intermediate step to 3D TSV's in active IC's, or is this a long term trend? How will the supply chain evolve to serve these emerging technologies? These are the questions we address in this first-ever dedicated report on 3D glass/silicon interposers. Despite the emerging character of the 3D silicon/glass interposer solutions and the associated uncertainties, this report brings clear answers as to which applications and uses they are likely or unlikely to support in the future, and whether these will stay niche or rather expand to high volume manufacturing.

KEY FEATURES OF THE REPORT

Detailed account of all the application fields of 3D interposers (examples are logic, logic+memory, 3D RF/analogue integrated passive and MEMS capping interposers…)
Drivers and expected benefits by application
Comparison with technology alternatives and likeliness of 3D interposer penetration by application
Market trends and figures with breakdown by application, substrate type, wafer and panel size
Analysis of target wafer prices for a few key applications
Cost analysis of several technology and industrial cases
Supply chain analysis: main manufacturers and contract assemblers for 3D interposers, likely high volume players. Design, test and liability considerations

Companies Included in this Report

AAC Microtec

Allvia

AMD

Altera

Amkor Technology

APM

ASE

ASET

Avago Technologies

Bridgelux

CEA-LETI

ChipMOS

Cree

Corning

Dai Nippon Printing

Dalsa

Discera

Elpida

Epcos

Epistar

EPWorks

Fraunhofer IZM

Georgia Tech

Hitachi

Hymite

Hynix

Ibiden

IBM

IME

IMT

Infineon Technologies

Intel

Ipdia

Liquid Design Solutions

LG Innotek

Lumileds

Maxim

Micron

Nanium

National semiconductor

NEC / Schott

Nepes

Nichia

Nippon Electric Glass

Nokia

NXP Semiconductors

On Semiconductors

Panasonic

Qualcomm

Renesas

Replisaurus Technologies

Samsung

Schott

Sensonor

Shinko Electric

Silex Microsystems

SMIC

Soitec

Sony

StatsChipPac

STEricsson

STMicroelectronics

SA Microtec

Tecnisco

Texas Instruments

TMT

Toshiba

TSMC

UltraTech

UMC

UTAC

VTI Technologies

WLCSP

Xilinx

Xintec

About the Author

Main author: Laurent Robin

-Laurent is in charge of the MEMS & Sensors market research at Yole Developpement. He previously worked at image sensor company e2v Technologies (Grenoble, France). He holds a Physics Engineering degree from the National Institute of Applied Sciences in Toulouse, plus a Master Degree in Technology & Innovation Management from EM Lyon Business School, France

Contributor: Mike Perlmutter

-Mike has worked in the inertial navigation field for over 30 years. He was director of strategy and planning at Northrop Grumman in 2007 when he retired from the company and established Skylight Navigation to consult in the area of inertial systems, navigation, corporate planning and strategy. Mike has published papers, chaired conference sessions, given talks and authored 10 US patents on inertial sensors, GPS and navigation technology.

1. Scope of the report, definitions and background

2. Executive summary

3. Supply chain analysis

4. Market forecasts

2009-2015 market forecasts In $M

2009-2015 wafer forecasts in kWafers (wspy) by application, substrate material size and shape

5. Applications and drivers

Logic interposers

Logic + memory interposers

Interposers for memory stacks

Interposers for MEMS & sensors

Interposers for CMOS image sensors