Advances in High Performance RDL Technologies for Enabling IO Density of 500 IOs/mm/layer and 8-μm IO Pitch Using Low-k Dielectrics
Fuhan Liu, Rui Zhang, Bartlet DeProspo, Shreya Dwarakanath, Pratik Nimbalkar, Siddharth Ravichandran, David Weyers, Mohanalingam Kathaperumal, Rao Tummala, Madhavan Swaminathan
Abstract
Currently, the IC industry has been steadily advancing towards 7 nm and 5 nm nodes with further reductions projected in the near future to progressively create large number of inputs and outputs (IOs) at finer pitch. Today the high-density interconnect (HDI) organic redistribution layer (RDL) can only achieve an IO density of about 40 IOs per mm per layer with line and space of 6 μm and microvia diameter of 20 μm at 50 μm pitch. However, to achieve further increases in IO density, RDL with 1 μm routing lines and spaces together with 1 to 2 μm diameter microvias are required. Such advances in the RDL technology are of great importance to accomplish IO densities of 500 IOs/mm/layer to enable high bandwidths of 500 Gb/s at low cost. In this paper we present the latest progress at the Packaging Research Center, Georgia Institute of Technology in the following 4 key areas.1. Fine line photolithography: Various methods that can achieve 1 μm critical dimension (CD) are discussed and recent results on 1 μm L/S using both dry film and liquid photoresists together with advanced lithographic tools are presented.2. Small microvia creation: Microvia is the most important barrier limiting the RDL to achieve high IO density and fine IO pitch. In this paper, microvia diameter scaling down to 2 μm along with the feasibility to achieve 1 μm and via pitch of 4 to 8 μm using both photo and picosecond pulsed UV laser will be presented.3. Low Dk and Low Df dielectric materials: Dielectric material layers are an important part of RDL. For achieving multi-functional high speed and/or low loss systems and modules, dielectric layers with low Dk and/or low Df materials are critical. The material requirements, availability and process challenges will be addressed in this paper.4. Process methodology: The semi-additive process (SAP) has been the process of record for RDL fabrication. In this paper, the conventional SAP and its modifications such as modified-SAP (m-SAP) and advanced SAP (a-SAP) together with alternative organic damascene process (ODP) along with back-end- of-line (BEOL) will be reviewed and compared.Finally, considerations for future trends are presented.