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Worldwide Perspective on SiP Markets
Linda Matthew, TechSearch International
The market for stacked die and stacked packages is driven by portable applications that require extremely small form-factors. System-in-package (SiP) has grown out of the need to incorporate increased functionality in smaller spaces.
Digital camcorders have been one of the first adopters of new and innovative packaging technology and the adoption of SiP is no exception. Driven by goals of smaller size and lighter weight, cameras and camcorders continue to use advanced packages, including SiPs. Hitachi/Matsushita Electric Industrial jointly developed a camcorder containing an SiP with stacked chips. Sony describes its solution as "System Integrated Packaging." The Sony Cyber-Shot digital camera has also been introduced with SiPs.
A variety of SiPs are increasingly found in the RF, digital baseband, and transceiver sections of mobile phones. Some of these structures are planar constructions and several incorporate integrated passive substrates. Skyworks ships SiPs in high volume using wire bond devices on a laminate substrate. Philips has developed a thin-film-on-silicon module that incorporates passive devices such as planar capacitors, pit capacitors, resistors, and inductors in the substrate. STMicroelectronics is shipping transceiver modules with an RF ASIC flip chip mounted on top of an integrated passive device. SyChip's module incorporates integrated passives in the thin film on silicon substrate. Flip chip devices are mounted on the module to provide a "plug and play" solution for a WLAN application .
Additional structures include stacked die packages or stacked modules. The first stacked packages utilized in market applications contained only memory, but increasingly logic devices are being added. While the thinnest packages (important for mobile phones) feature bare die stacked inside the package, issues of bare die availability, logics, and test are resulted in a number of stacked package configurations. The package-on-package (PoP) concept is being promoted by a number of companies, including Amkor. In this construction one package is stacked on top of another . The packages can be mounted by the IC package subcontractor or the board level assembly house. STATSChipPAC and Qualcomm are promoting a package-in-package (PiP) concept that Qualcomm refers to as a stacked module package. The package offers flexibility in the configuration of the memory and allows the memory to be fully tested before the packages are molded together .
SiP applications also include medical electronics such as smart pills and implantable devices, defense electronics, and aerospace applications. While these applications represent smaller unit volumes they represent higher value-added modules. Computer and telecommunication systems also use SiPs. These configurations typically feature at bare die surrounded by packaged memory. Discussed are the various types of SiP in volume production and new developments.
Linda Matthew was born and raised in South Africa. She obtained B.Sc. and M.Sc degrees from MIT, and has worked in both engineering and marketing areas of the electronics industry since 1986. She began her career at IBM Research in New York , and subsequently joined Tessera and moved to California . She has worked for nCHIP, Flextronics and LSI Logic, and since 1998 has been a consultant doing market research in electronic packaging.
Linda is named on 7 patents. She has served on the committee of the IEEE CPMT chapter and the IEMT Symposium. She is a member of the IEEE and MEPTEC.