The Innovations Driving the Advanced Packaging Roadmap, Part 1

Advanced IC substrates (AICS) have been marching toward the 2µm line/space (L/S) redistribution layer (RDL) technology node for some time (Figure 1). However, many questions remain about the ability of organic substrates to meet the line/space requirements of the next generation of advanced packages (AP), those below 2µm L/S and perhaps to 1.5µm L/S. Simply put: are organic substrates up to the challenge?

The answer to that has been no.

But with recent developments, the possibility of organic substrates reaching below 2µm appears to be changing.

Before we discuss the reasons why, we will first turn our attention to the core reasons organic substrates struggle with lower line/space requirements...