Technology Review of System in Package

Abstract

The Moore's law is approaching to an end at today's 14 nm technology and System in Package (SiP) is a promising solution for achieving denser electronics like mobile phones with small form factors. System in package is bringing together multiple ICs of various functionality stacked in 3D fashion. A fully functional system consisting of passive elements like resistor, capacitor, inductors, electromechanical elements, antenna, and ICs like sensors, can be integrated into a single package. To meet the requirements of the end product, system design characterization becomes very important for overall success in the development of system in package. Failure analysis and testing of the end product helps improve the product yield which is a point of concern for industries while designing system in package. But system in package has proven to be a viable solution for reduction in total cost and minimize time-to-market. Hence, system in package will continue to thrive and grow into mainstream technology despite of challenges faced during the development and production phase. In this paper, summary of system in package is presented with the perspective of reviewing the research carried out to overcome the challenges, cost issues, compatibility of different functional dice, quality and reliability issues. This paper discusses the recent technological development of system in package modules and the limitations faced at various system levels while bringing multiple chips together to achieve fully functional package. This paper focuses on bridging the gap between the system integration by reviewing the research progress in the 3D IC and packaging using system in package. Some of the applications like portable electronics, automotive and wearable electronics, where the significance of system in package is more relevant are reviewed in this paper. The core challenges like thermal management, flip chip or wire bond interconnect that arise due to integration of different components and packages like package on package, package in package in the system in package are also discussed.