In 2012, 3D TSV is one of the hottest technologies, along with 450mm and EUV, in the semiconductor industry due to the technology’s huge potential. Depending on the type of application and timeframe, gains in bandwidth, power reduction, thermal budget, footprint, height, cost and even “time to market” and product portfolio scalability might be expected. In the last five years, major progress has been made. Driven by the application requirements, the technology scope is narrowing and technology options are being eliminated.  A few applications — including Camera Image Sensors (CIS), power amplifiers, memory stacks, memory and logic stacks with a wide and parallel bus interface, and side-by-side integration on a 2.5D interposer— emerged as the drivers. Standards defined through a pre competitive consensus-based agreement have been created by Standard Developing Organizations such as SEMI and Jedec. SEMI recently published SEMI 3D1-0912 - Terminology for Through Silicon via Geometrical Metrology, an important starting point in the move forward volume production

Europe: Important Role in 3D TSV Technology
European companies continue to be at the forefront of 3D TSV technology. R&D organizations such as CEA-LETI, Fraunhofer-IZM and imec are among the pioneers to develop state-of-the-art technology to their global partners. On the IDM and foundry side, STMicroelectronics was one of the first companies worldwide to manufacture CIS with via last. Starting with 200mm wafers with a backside via and a conformal copper filling, they quickly evolved to 300mm wafers. Similarly, ams AG industrialized a highly innovative TSV architecture for a demanding medical image sensor solution. These products could be manufactured because the appropriate toolset was available. In effect, equipment and materials suppliers achieved important developments in the last few years; much progress has been made in via etching, isolation and filling, carrier temporary bonding/debonding, wafer backside processing, fine pitch bumping and die stacking. European leaders such as BESI, EV Group, Oerlikon, Suss MicroTec, SPTS and many more are among the players that invested significant R&D efforts to make this happen. Still, on the road toward high-volume manufacturing, some key challenges remain.

New SEMI Event to Convene 3D TSV Leaders
To solve the remaining technical and business challenges that require coordination and cooperation along the supply chain, SEMI is launching a new global event to foster a comprehensive analysis of “pain points” with top notch speakers. This new even is called the European 3D TSV Summit and will be held in Grenoble in January 22-23, 2013. At this global event, which will have a strong focus on the manufacturing aspect of 3D TSV technology, the speakers will share their latest company achievements and perspectives. Following keynotes are announced:

Advancing high performance heterogeneous integration through die stacking
Suresh Ramalingam, Senior Director Packaging and Advanced Technology Development
Xilinx

The Future of Packaging : Advanced System Integration
Ron Huemoeller, Senior VP Advanced Product Development
AMKOR

3D Integration for Mobile Applications
Georg Kimmich, Head of Silicon Packaging R&D
ST-Ericsson

Perspectives on 3D TSV Benefits in Microelectronics Applications
Laurent Malier, CEO
CEA-LETI

In addition, executives from the following companies will deliver invited talks: Advantest, ams AG, Brewer Science, BESI, Cadence Design System, CEA-LETI, EV Group, Fogale Nanotech, Fraunhofer-ISS, Fraunhofer-IZM, imec, Multitest, Oerlikon Systems, Rudolph Technologies, Silex Microsystems, Solid State Equipment LLC, SPTS, STMicroelectronics, Suss Microtec. A broad and deep market overview of 2.5D interposer, 3D-IC and TSV Interconnects will be covered, coordinated by Yole Developpement that will manage a unique market briefing session. Full conference program is available online.

Collective Progress
As 3D TSV technology is now close to volume production, the various stakeholders need to make sure all aspects are covered: design tools and methodology, test solutions from the design and equipment aspect, and inspection and metrology tools developed and evaluated by the customers.
Nevertheless, some technical and business-oriented challenges still remain and need to be collectively tackled. To address them and progress, in addition to the regular plenary talks, the European 3D TSV Summit will allow attendees to interact via a software platform — allowing them to schedule meetings with each other in advance.

Exhibition and cleanroom visit of CEA-LETI 300mm TSV line tour will complete the very dense program of this unique event.
Please visit www.semi.org/european3DTSVSummit for registration, exhibition information and sponsorship information. For additional information, contact Yann Guillou at the SEMI Europe Grenoble Office (yguillou@semi.org).