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Imaging chips with TSV announced for commercialization
October 27, 2007
The latest 3D integration announcement details the commercialization of CMOS image chips for portable devices.
On Oct 1st Toshiba announced that in order to enhance competitiveness in their image sensor business they would be bringing the manufacturing of CMOS camera modules for mobile phones in-house.Production of the CSCM (chip scale camera module), shown in the figure below, will start at January 2008. They will be the first camera modules manufactured with what they are calling TCV (Through Chip Via) or what we have come to know as TSV (through silicon via ) technology.
The current technology is compared to the new technology in the figure below. The new CSCM micro-camera modules reportedly reduce the area previously required for wire bonding the module to a substrate by mounting the components directly on the wafer,running electrodes through the wafer and attaching to the circuit board with solder balls. The new product also reduces pixel size, contributing to a module size up to 64% smaller than camera modules manufactured with the same sensors. Toshiba notes that the application of balls of solder and heat resistant lenses ( not affected by reflow) significantly reduces the process time for camera mounting to the circuit boards of mobile consumer products.
Toshiba had previously published CMOS imaging chip packaging technology where they laser drill the back side vias in the chip, insulate by laminating a epoxy resin sheet to fill the vias and then reopen the vias to the backside of the contact pads by another laser drilling operation [1]. At this time it is unknown as to whether this process is being used in the CSCM production announcement.
[1] M. Sekiguchi et. al., “Novel Low Cost Integration of Through Chip Interconnection and Application to CMOS Image Sensor”, ECTC, 2006, p. 1367.
Posted by Philip Garrou on October 27, 2007 | Comments (0)
