Leveraging synergies in their respective technologies, Tokyo-based Asahi Glass Co., Ltd. (AGC) and nMode Solutions Inc. of Tucson, Arizona, have invested $2.1 million to co-found a subsidiary business, Triton Micro Technologies(www.tritonmicrotech.com), to develop innovative via-fill technology for interposers, enabling next-generation semiconductor packaging solutions using ultra-thin glass. The new company, headquartered in Tucson with a manufacturing facility planned in California, will combine nMode’s interposer technology for electrically connecting semiconductor devices with AGC’s materials technology and micro-hole drilling techniques to produce 2.5-dimensional (2.5D) and three-dimensional (3D) through-glass-via (TGV) interposers needed for advanced semiconductor devices.
 
To achieve the next generation in high-density semiconductor packaging, interposer technologies are needed to form the high number of electrical connections between a silicon chip and a printed circuit board. Interposers allow high packaging integration in the smallest available form factors.
 
Triton Micro Technologies will manufacture ultra-thin glass interposers using a high-efficiency continuous process that lowers costs and helps to commercialize the widespread use of interposers. The company will draw upon nMode’s intellectual property and AGC’s proven carrier-glass technology and via-hole drilling methodologies to fabricate its interposers. Triton then will apply its proprietary technology to fill the high-aspect-ratio via holes with a copper paste that has the same coefficient of thermal expansion as glass. This reduces the potentially damaging effects of thermal stress during manufacturing and long-term use. Triton’s process creates high-quality electrodes within the interposer to provide the electrical interface capable of accommodating advanced, high-density ICs.
 
Triton’s interposers are compatible with wafers having diameters from 100 mm to 300 mm and thicknesses of 0.7 mm and below. The company also can design and manufacture customized solutions for unique applications.
 
“The global semiconductor industry recognizes that silicon is approaching its performance limits as an interposer material, but the need remains to create smaller, more efficient packages for today’s and tomorrow’s high-performance ICs,” said Tim Mobley, CEO at Triton. “Our technology allows us to achieve known-good-die testing at the highest levels of packaging integration, faster cycle times and the lowest cost per unit in the market.”