Future material
for chip packaging
Dr. Michael Töpper from the Business Development team at Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration (IZM) about glass as ideal material for the semiconductor industry.
Dr. Töpper, is the semiconductor industry aware of the advantages of using ultra-thin glass?
No, because this requires more education. First, introducing new materials in the conservative semiconductor industry is difficult. In addition, everyone believes they know glass to be a brittle and easily breakable material. But, depending on the type, glass has various properties. And some of them are ideal for use in chip packaging and high-frequency technology.
Which properties are you referring to?
First, it has excellent dielectric properties. Glass ensures the lowest possible energy losses, especially at high signal frequencies such as those that are used in the new radio frequency standard LTE or in future radar systems for autonomous driving. And unlike polymer materials, the quality does not change over time because glass hardly ages and can also protect electronic microcomponents against environmental influences.
Where could ultra-thin glasses be used first?
Consumer electronics and smartphone applications, such as displays or sensors, are the first products that come to mind. Then, I expect to see them used in the automotive world, where the highest reliability and quality are extremely important.
What products does the IZM cooperate with SCHOTT on?
Today, the focus is on developing interposers on the basis of ultra-thin glasses. In SCHOTT, we have found an ideal partner for making such promising future applications marketable.
