Thin Glass Handling Solutions for Microelectronics Packaging

Abstract

Abstract Glass substrates with fine-pitch through-glass via (TGV) technology gives an attractive approach to wafer level packaging and systems integration. Glass can be made in very thin sheets (<100 um thick) which aids in integration and eliminates the need for back-grinding operations. Electrical and physical properties of glass have many attractive attributes such as low RF loss, the ability to adjust thermal expansion properties, and low roughness with excellent flatness to achieve fine L/S. Furthermore, glass can be fabricated in panel format to reduce manufacturing costs. The biggest challenge to adopting glass as a packaging substrate has been the existence of gaps in the supply chain, caused primarily by the difficulty in handling large, thin glass substrates using standard automation and processing equipment. This paper presents a temporary bonding technology that allows the thin glass substrates to be processed in a semiconductor fab environment without the need to modify existing equipment.