Potential of 3D Heterogeneous Integration

Semiconductor Review | Tuesday, December 24, 2024

3D heterogeneous integration will become a technical link between the chip and system integration with the continuous development of microsystem technology.

FREMONT, CA: Heterogeneous integration has emerged as one of the key directions in electrical technology due to the ongoing reduction in chip feature size, making it harder to maintain Moore's Law. The scale barrier from micro-nano technology to system integration at a reasonable cost is broken by 3D heterogeneous integration formed by multiple chip connections on package substrates supported by active through-silicon vias. This focuses on system integration and interconnection to 10 m orders of magnitude in submicron. The advantages of integrated goods, such as high integration, low power consumption, miniaturization, and high reliability, are made possible by the gradual development of 3D heterogeneous integration toward 3D stacking, multi-function integration, and hybrid heterogeneous integration.

Heterogeneous integration is receiving more attention from the industry. Heterogeneous integration involves combining chips or components from different foundries with different wafer widths and feature sizes on various substrates. Bipolar devices in radio frequency/analog electronic systems, complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) devices in low-frequency analog-to-digital mixed signal systems, micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS)/nano-electro-mechanical system (NEMS) devices, optoelectronics/electro-optical conversion devices, etc. are some examples of the devices that are available for heterogeneous integration.

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3D heterogeneous integration prospects

With the information industry expanding quickly, 3D heterogeneous integration will be utilized extensively in sectors including the Internet of Things (IoT) smart city, vehicular network smart traffic, network information security, comprehensive governance security, and 5 G communication. It will also support the ecological development of intelligent hardware such as artificial intelligence, wearables, and intelligent media. Additionally, 3D heterogeneous integration technology can satiate the demand for a significant number of inexpensive miniature information network nodes in the integrated information network of heaven and earth.

Humans have not completely utilized millimeter wave (mmW) or sub-mm wave/terahertz (THz) in the electromagnetic spectrum, but interest in the applications is growing. Due to the quick advancement of semiconductor and packaging technologies and commercial test equipment, it is now possible to create significant applications based on HF spectrums. Next-generation broadband ultra-high-speed wireless communication systems, HD cameras and sensors, and vehicle radars are some emerging uses in the mmW and sub-mmW spectrum. These applications call for higher dependability, efficiency, smaller size, better performance, and complex functionalities at relatively reasonable costs.

Developing 3D heterogeneous integration has difficulties.

The electronics sector's environment is changing quickly due to the growing digital economy, which is being pushed by 5 G, IoT, smart devices, and cloud computing. There are tradeoffs related to performance, reliability, size, and cost in each area of the electronics business. A heterogeneous integration roadmap emphasizes system-level integration and cutting-edge packaging technologies to accommodate the changing and growing market. Heterogeneous integration will be essential to maintain the technologically advanced industry with better performance, lower latency, smaller size, lighter weight, lower power consumption, and a cheaper cost for some time.

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