SMTA 3D Meeting in Research Triangle PArk
It must be nice for those of you
living in the Bay area where conferences on every microelectronic
topic imaginable are held on an almost weekly basis. Not so for
those of us living in the rest of the country. A few weeks ago SMTA
held their second 3D, SiP Conference in RTPNC, right here in my
back yard. I thought I’d share some of the interesting things
that were presented.
Biao Cai of IBM gave a presentation
on trends in DRAM packaging for Servers. His key points were:
- Memory capacity growing at minimum 2X per generation
- Memory performance growing at minimum 3X every 3 years
- DRAM technology scaling approaching fundamental limits
- System volumetric space allocation for memory approaching
physical limit
He pointed out that 3D with TSV
technology is under evaluation for 2012-BEYOND for DDR3~DDR4. We
are in agreement.
Ritwik Chatterjee has moved from
Motorola to good friend Rao Tummala’s Ga. Tech Packaging
Center to lead the 3D program there, which they call “All
Silicon System Module” (shown in the figure below).
Fraunhofer IZM Berlin and Kaist are co-sponsoring this proposed
consortium. Further details can be found on their web site.
Paul Sibelrud of Semitool gave the
EMC-3D consortium pitch. For details see past blogs such as
“3D Equipment and Material Vendors Consortium” –
Aug 26th 2007 in Perspectives from the Leading Edge. Paul
pointed out correctly that Cost of ownership (COO) is the ultimate
driver for this or any other technology.
EMC-3D is considering both vias
first and vias last process flows but is starting with a vias last
approach. ( Readers of this blog know that I favor the FEOL vias
first, from the fab, business model)
Using the Sematech COO cost model
EMC-3D claims that 3D IC integration will be down to $162 / wafer
sometime in 2009. I think this is aggressive, but hope it is
correct.
Year
capital
(MM$)
COO ($/wafer)
2008
38
204
2009
(expected) 32
162
For all the latest on 3D IC
Integration stay linked to Perspectives from the Leading
Edge..……………………..
