LiDAR Packaging

Abstract

The rising demand for the “eyes to the machine” or 3D point cloud images in a wide set of application areas, such as automotive, trucking, UAV/drones, industrial, mapping, military and defense, surveillance, and others, is expected to exponentially drive the LiDAR market over the next two decades. The massive automotive LiDAR market is at its nascence stage. Wallstreet Research projects a $2 billion market by 2020 and grow to a staggering $82B by 2035. The Total Available Market (TAM) of LiDAR sensors is expected to grow from hundreds of thousands to millions and hundreds of millions through this period. With the market growth in demand and application specific requirements, the design, manufacturing and proxy of performance must revolutionize to deliver performance, quality, reliability, scale and cost. LiDAR optical design, integration, and miniaturization require novel packaging solutions, process and advanced tool development and hands-on lessons. Packaging and validation of performance requires a multidisciplinary approach that spans across the optical, electrical, mechanical and computer science domains. Although LiDAR has been around since the 1960s, the industry is beginning to learn the challenges in semiconductor packaging, interconnect substrate technologies, optoelectronic module technology, inter-assembly, and manufacturing multichip modules to meet the needs of the autonomous machine market.