ELECTRONICS.CA PUBLICATIONS, the electronics industry market research and knowledge network, announces the availability of a new report entitled "Impact of 3D IC in the Electronics Industry".

Currently, 3D IC technology is used in reference to 3D packaging solutions, wafer level packaging, and the concept of monolithic 3D IC. The choice of fabrication and bonding technology for 3D IC depends on the requirements of the system. As an interconnect medium, electronic industry has progressed from wire-bond interconnects to introduce flip-chip technology, and later through-silicon vias (TSV) as an interconnect technique. Apart from performance gains, the factors, which need to be taken into consideration include time to market and cost of the particular 3D solution. There still is a variety of challenges that need to be solved before this technology reaches the wide market place, such as lack of mature fabrication processes or capital equipment cost.

Today, the 3D technology has been most widely commercialized in system-in-package (SiP) form, which is based on a traditional packaging technology with higher level interconnect technologies. Driven by the trend for miniaturization, such devices are already in the volume production. The technology has been proved to offer efficient and economically reliable way to minimize package outlines and enabling for integration of multiple functions in one chip. Moreover, the market adoption was supported by the fact that 3D-SiP is based on the already existing infrastructure, which lowered the initial investment cost.

3D-SiP includes technologies, such as die stacking and package stacking to vertically connect devices of different functionalities. The latter includes package-on-package (PoP) and package-in-package (PiP) solutions. All of these technologies are well established in the market and in the mass production phase. This means the industry has developed the necessary infrastructure and was able to lower the manufacturing cost. The low cost of 3D packaging technology has driven its market adoption. Moreover, it is believed that despite the cost of advanced assembly process, this technology presents additional cost reductions due to reduced area of printed wiring board and fewer discrete components required. With the advances in 3D packaging, interconnect density is increasing while reducing thickness and footprint of the package.

One of the indications of the technology maturity is when it is transferred from the development phase to the commercial product. 3D packaging is in its mature stage with a number of commercial applications available in the market. It is widely used in sectors, such as mobile phones, wireless, computer, consumer, communication, military, aerospace, automotive, and medical.

The most promising application area is in consumer electronics, as the industry is constantly looking for solutions to provide small form factor with a high functionality. Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and integrated device manufacturers most notably developers of smartphones, are on the lookout for the solutions that enable integrating devices of various functionalities, such as baseband or image processors.

Details of the new report, table of contents and ordering information can be found on Electronics.ca Publications' web site. View the report: Impact of 3D IC in the Electronics Industry