Packaging Challenges of Thin High Bandwidth POP

Abstract

Abstract Components for Smartphone has been the biggest driving force of IC industry for years, and one of the most important IC is application processor (AP). AP needs to work with low power double data rate (LPDDR), the mobile DRAM together for the primary processing of cellular phone and other smart functions. At the beginning, they were packaged separately and then mounted onto printed circuit board (PCB) very close to each other. Nowadays, AP for flagship Smartphone is packaged with a variety of PoP (package on package) structures to shorten the communication distance between AP and LPDDR as well as to save more rooms for battery. High bandwidth package on package (HBW-POP) is the most popular structure among them. As compared to other substrate based PoP, HBW-POP provides the most top side pin count while keeps larger ball pitch for system assembly house to mount LPDDR packaged by fine-pitch ball grid array (FBGA) on top of it. And compared to novel Fan-Out based PoP, HBW-POP has lower cost for AP packaging. In addition, maximum package height of HBW-POP has been shrinking. It is because when LPDDR is mounted onto HBW-POP, the combination is always the tallest chips on the PCB, which determines how slim specific Smartphone can be. HBW-POP consists of 3 parts to encapsulate AP die, and they are top 2-layer substrate, middle molding and bottom 3-layer substrate. Each part has its own coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) and rigidity, and the warpage performance of HBW-POP is important to align the warpage behavior of LPDDR. The warpage of HBW-POP needs to align with FBGA properly during reflow for good joint, but when HBW-POP becomes thinner, the rigidity of its different parts is changed, which result in different warpage behavior during the reflow. In this paper, we will review the challenges of thin HBW-POP packaging, meanwhile we will explore possible solutions to address each challenge. The study includes the screening of different thickness combination of the 3 parts of HBW-POP, and the optimization of the rigidity and CTE of them. Design of Experiments (DOE) are conducted to find solutions which can meet warpage target, and finally, we present more different tests to prove the reliability of our results.