Milestones in Packaging (notes)

Ken Gilleo PhD June 2006 Electronic packaging is well over a century old if one includes optoelectronics (The 1897 Braun Tube; or CRT; Cathode Ray Tube) and the vacuum tubes (first decade of 1900). World War II brought a substantial level of miniaturization as the hydride circuit was perfected that still had to rely on vacuum electronics. But the ceramic technology developed for the ordnance would be the basis for ceramic packages later. Vacuum electronics required hermetic packaging that would limit materials to glass, ceramics and metal. However, halfway through the century, the discovery of solid-state electronics would change the industry and packaging. The advent of the transistor, followed by integration leading to the IC, would enable nonhermetic packaging that would come to heavily rely on organic materials, especially plastics. Plastic encapsulation was first used around 1949. The documentation is a patent that was filed in April of that year (a) . The age of plastic packaging allowed considerable innovation that continues, and even accelerates, today. While it is relatively easy to select milestones in packaging, deciding on the luminaries is more difficult. One reason is that good ideas often did not take root when first conceived simply because they were too far ahead of their time. Surface mount, for example, was introduced in the 1960s by IBM as flip chip, but such extreme density, while required for mainframe computers, was not that useful for consumer products. Ironically, the early surface mount flat packs were replaced by the feed-through DIP because assembly was easier. Early ceramic pad grid array packages also had limited use. But today, many of the early package concepts are new, especially flip chip and leadless SMDs, like the QFN. In a sense, its back to the future. Here are some of the major milestones in packaging and the luminaries that helped make it happen. The package is the all-important bridge between the device and the board, and here are the bridge builders. The hermetic package or envelope, started with gas-filled devices like the Geissler Tube, but was reduced to a practical product, the Braun Tube - the first CRT in about 1897. Then came radio electronics that used the same principle and the 1907 Audion from De Forest, marked true electronics packaging in that it was the first active device. The glass package evolved to metal and ceramic and this technology is now the modern hermetic package. A momentous breakthrough in electronics occurred with the introduction of the solid-state transistor, and this would have a major impact on packaging. The earliest transistor packaging was a hermetic can, the TO, consisting of a ceramic header and metal cap. But this was really a tiny version of the metal vacuum tube. The next evolution was to replace the metal can with nonhermetic plastic, especially epoxies. The advent of the IC would change packaging to a much more sophisticated design to accommodate the considerably higher lead count. While early IC packages used ceramic hermetic enclosures and ceramic with flip chips, the transition to plastic was a significant event. The flat pack was first, but it was temporarily replaced by the DIP (Dual In-line Package) that became immensely popular since the feed-through format could be automated. Ironically, the surface mount flat pack, and modifications, would come back in the 1980s as part of the surface mount revolution. The P-DIP (Plastic Dual In-line Package) format was the most important breakthrough in the entire packaging history, and is still the foundation of modern non-hermetic, low-cost packaging. While it is difficult to attribute the DIP to a single inventor, the earliest patent found was filed in 1964 and was designed for multiple transistors rather than an IC (b). The DIP was there first low cost plastic package that could be used with ICs and the flagship of the plastic package revolution for many decades. The DIP, SIP and quad-type versions dominated the industry until the SMT finally became the preferred style in the late 1980s. But, from time to time, the DIP leads were bent outward to enable SMT even before surface mount became popular. Texas Instruments used this idea for their calculators some time in the 1970s.

Flex-based packaging, popularized as TAB, was an important concept that began in the 1960s and is still a major packaging technology. While General Electrics Mini-mod was a true TAB, with a window and cantilevered beam leads, it was not the first in flex-based packaging. GEs, A.F. Aird is the inventor of the Mini-mod [1] but a somewhat similar concept, called Flip Chip Strip, was invented by Dr. Fran Hugle a few years earlier [2]. While Hugle was first, with a flexbased package invention that was actually prototyped, Airds Mini-mod package was the design that was adopted and still used today. The basic distinction between the two is that Hugle used flip chip for the 1st-level interconnect, while Aird used cantilevered beam leads. Both contributed to the success of flex-based packaging that continues to be popular today. Tesseras BGA is a good example of a modern flex-base package. One can wonder how the Hugle invention would have faired if the inventor had not died prematurely from cancer. Flip Chip, a system that was not quite viewed as a package, was invented in the 1960s by IBM, but remained somewhat of a captive technology for mainframe computers. Today, it is considered a true package by many, but not all, and is playing an important role well beyond computers. The first flip chip product was SLT (Solid Logic Technology) that was applied to the transistor in 1964 where copper balls were soldered to under bump metallization. This was a breakaway from all other packaging approaches and was unique to IBM. Dr. Paul Totta published several classic papers on the package [3]. E. M. Davis, of IBM, is probably the prime inventor of the SLT [4] while L.F. Miller is usually given credit for the invention of C4 [5]. While flip chip worked well for transistors, the introduction of the IC would require modification. The copper balls were replaced with solder balls that could be mass-applied by a vacuum-deposition process. The new flip chip design was called C4 (actually C4) for Controlled Collapse Chip Connection. Flip chip, now about 40 years old, is probably todays fastest growing method for high density. C4 appears to be the first WLP (Wafer Level Package). While Dr. Paul Totta, who retired from IBM a few years ago, was not necessarily the flip chip specific inventor, he has played an important role from the beginning in the 1960s. Dr. Totta continued to promote flip chip in papers and at conferences until his retirement. I still call him the father of the flip chip even if there were several parents. He certainly has been a flip chip evangelist and a major factor in packaging. SMT (surface mount technology), was the next big step as it moved the industry from lessefficient feed-through, but there are two distinct lines of technology. While the early 1980s marked the beginning of SMT in plastic packages, IBMs flip chip in the 1960s, was the first SMT. This is another time-was-right technical event that evolved from many sources and its not easy to pin down a single inventor since there were early packages that were surface mounted, like IBMs flip chip and versions of flat packs from many companies. It still would be nice to decide who was the most responsible for launching SMT. [SMTA is trying to come up with some names]. Area Array Packaging is the practical low-cost format. The plastic Ball Grid Array (PBGA) was one of the important events in packaging. The common perimeter style packages had reached a point where more I/Os in a smaller area was impractical. Introduced as Motorolas Ompak, this was the package that succeeded with the right density solution. Although area array footprints had been known for some time, it was Bruce Freyman who took the lead with plastic overmolded area array and made it happen. Freyman is considered a co-inventor on Motorola BGA patents. It is not exactly clear which patent is considered to be the first BGA invention since Freymans early patents deal with leadless area array packages having solderable surfaces that become BGAs after soldering. This is only important in determining the co-inventors - see reference [6]. Bruce spent 10 years at Motorola where he developed several area array packages. He left for Amkor in 1992 who was partnering with Motorola to help launch the BGA. Amkor was adopting the plastic BGA packaging that was apparently licensed from Motorola. Freyman assumed responsibility for Amkor's R&D organization in 1998. In 2002, Amkor promoted Mr. Freyman to Executive Vice President for worldwide product and manufacturing operations and a Corporate Officer. He was CEO at Amkor for a short time before leaving, and is now at Skyworks Solutions, Inc. as vice president of worldwide operations. Freyman holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and an M.B.A.

Note that although the PBGA popularized area array, the concept was first used decades before at IBM with flip chips. The CSP (Chip-Scale Package), launched as Tesseras BGA, marked another milestone. Drs. Tom Di Stefano and Igor Khandros pioneered the technology. Both from IBM, they were well aware of the need for very high-density packaging. The breakthrough idea was to take the basic TAB (Tape Automated Bonding) concept, but remove the outer leads that were always a problem for assembly, and also took up too much area. Their idea was to use a fan-in geometry instead of the common fan-out used in TAB and other packages. This would require a BGA interconnect. The original design used a single metal layer flex circuit construction with laser-drilled vias on the bottom. The first bumps were created by electroplating copper forming a post within the via and allowing the plating to continue until a mushroom bump had formed. Later, micro-spheres of solder were used to replace the copper. The successful product was the BGA that helped launch Chip Scale Packaging. Dr. Tom Di Stefano is a recognized pioneer in the fields of chip-scale and wafer-level packaging. Before founding Tessera, Tom spent 19 years with IBM at the T.J. Watson Research Center and is now president of Decision Track. He earned a Ph.D. in applied physics from Stanford University and a BSEE from Lehigh University. He also launched Chip Scale Review magazine. Dr. Igor Khandros, the co-founder of Tessera, is now CEO of Formfactor. Dr. Khandros holds a Ph.D. in Material Sciences from Stevens Institute of Technology, and a M.Sc. from Kiev Polytechnic Institute in Kiev, Russia. [7] Educators in Packaging must include Dr. Rao Tummala, who was the lead author for the Bible of packaging, Microelectronics Packaging Handbook. Tummala spent many decades at IBM developing high-density ceramic packages before retiring and moving to Georgia Tech where he founded of the Packaging Research Center where he is the director. Dr. Rao R. Tummala received a B.S. degree in Physics, Mathematics and Chemistry from Loyola College, India, the B.E. degree in Metallurgical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Science, Banglore, India, the M.S. degree in Metallurgical Engineering from Queen's University, and the Ph.D. degree in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Illinois. Another educator who stands out is Charles Harper, who began writing about packaging in the 1960s. Harpers work in packaging continues in his well-known book series for McGraw-Hill. Together, these two authors have done much to make sure that those in the packaging industry knew, not only, the history and heritage, but understood the challenges. Equipment - Many equipment vendors serve the packaging industry today. But if there is one company who was there from the start and who pioneered the most breakthroughs, it is K&S. Frederick W. Kulicke and Albert Soffa started the company in 1951. Today, Scott Kulicke is the Chairman of Kulicke & Soffa Industries, Inc. and has served as President and Chief Executive Officer since 1980. Scott has, and continues to play important roles in advancing the state of packaging. He is a past President of and served as a SEMI Director for eight years. He also served as one of the founding Directors of SEMATECH, the consortium of U.S. semiconductor manufacturers and the U.S. Government for manufacturing competitiveness; was the founding Chairman and former director of SISA (Semiconductor Industry Suppliers Association) formerly known as SEMI/SEMATECH, Inc., an organization of semiconductor equipment and materials suppliers supporting the goals of SEMATECH; and served as Chairman of the U.S. Department of Commerces Technical Advisory Committee on Semiconductors.

Modern packaging is more or less the continuing evolution of earlier ideas. Packaging concepts that are now receiving considerable attention are multichip packages, stacked die, stacked packages and wafer-level packages. All can be traced back to earlier times. Stacked packages and wafer-level methods, for example, were used in the 1960s by IBM. These SLT flip chips were mounted on ceramic chip carriers that were stacked. The bottom carrier had a Pin Grid Array (PGA) format. The flip chip under bump metallization and bumps were formed at wafer-level; the first WLP process. Some newer methods, like laser vias in ICs, are more or less the

reapplication of mature technologies to new problems. We may need to wait for Nanoelectronics to mature before the next big event in packaging. REFERENCES & DETAILS [1] Aird, A.F., US Patent 3,689,991, issued Sept. 12, 1972, filed March 6, 1970, the GE Mini-mod

[2] Hugle, F., US Patent 3440027, issued 1969, filed June 22, 1966. This appears to be the first flex-based package. The idea was to produce a reel, or tape, made of flexible circuitry, populate the sites with the new IBM flip chips, and bond the outer leads to the circuit board. One version (shown below) involved encapsulating the chip to produce a plastic package.

Step-etched flex with bumps

Flip Chip Strip

Manufactured by Sheldahl in 1960s

Molded Package - is this SMT?

[3] Totta, P. and Sopher, R., SLT Device Metallurgy and its Monolithic Extension, IBM J. of Research and Development, Volume 13, Number 3, Page 226 (1969).

IBMs SLT, courtesy of P. Totta. [4] E. M. Davis, W. E. Harding, R. S. Schwartz, J. J. Corning, Solid Logic Technology: Versatile, HighPerformance Microelectronics, IBM J. of Research and Development, Volume 8, Number 2, Page 102 (1964) [5] Miller, L. F., US Patent 3,429,040, filed June 1965.

[6] US Patent 4,700,276 is Freymans first and it deals with a pad area array. US Patent 5,136,366, with coinventors Worp, N. and Conrath, K., shows a BGA formed after soldering. But US Patent 5,241,133, assigned to Motorola, issued on August 31, 1993, inventors, Mullen, III; William B. (Boca Raton, FL); Urbish; Glenn F. (Coral Springs, FL); Freyman; Bruce J. (Plantation, FL), clearly describes adding solder balls before assembly as shown here:

If US Patent 5,241,133 is considered to be the BGA patent, then William Mullen III and Glenn F. Urbish are co-inventors.

[7] US Patent 5,258,330, Nov. 1993, Semiconductor

chip assemblies with fan-in leads

Reference (a) - The Very First Plastic Package Hermetic packages were required for vacuum electronics that began as glass tubes and then metal and ceramic structures. The invention of the transistor made it possible to use non-hermetic packaging. The earliest patent describing the use of plastic encapsulants appears to be USP 2,538,593, George M. Rose Jr. of RCA, filed on April 30, 1949 and issued on January 16, 1951. Patent figure 1 is shown on the right where 22 is a plastic that can be Bakelite (phenol-formaldehyde resin), Cibanite (aminoplastic from Ciba), or Durez (early phenolic plastic). The cap, 25, may also be made of plastic or of nickel-plated steel. The device is a semiconductor, also termed a transistor, tat has been described in literature by Bardeen, Brattain and Shockly.

Reference (b) The DIP - The Earliest Dual In-line Package

Circuit Module - USP 3,289,045 filed 3/2/64 Nathan Pritikin et al., issued 11/29/1966. Intellux, Inc. (CA) While level 2 is definitely a DIP, level 1 is to two transistors and passives. So while not an IC package, it is a DIP for a solid-state circuit. Discrete active and passive devices are connected to the thin film circuit (referred to as a chip circuit) by soldering or welding. Transistors (33) appear to be already packaged. There are cylindrical cavities for the components, but this is a pre-molded type package. There is no overmolding. This package is more or less a ceramic hybrid type with DIP pins. The chip circuit can be made from glass using thin film metallization. None of the references seems useful. None of the inventors other patents are relevant.

Audion Triodes (1909) - DeForest

Fleming (~1906)

Braun Tube (1897)