CSP + HDI : MCM!

MCM technology languished troughout most of the 1990's due to high costs resulting from low yields and issues with known god die. During the last five years of the decade new developments in chip scale packages and high density, build up multi-layer printed wiring boards created new opportunities to design and produce ultra miniaturized modules using conventional surface mount manufacturing capabilities. Focus on the miniaturization of substrate based packages such as ball grid arrays (BGAs) resulted in chip scale packages (CSPs) offering many of the benefits of flip chip along with the handling, testing, manufacturing and reliability capabilities of packaged deviced. New developments in the PWB industry sought to reduce the size, weight, thickness and cost of high density interconnect (HDI) substrates. Shrinking geometries of vias and new constructions significantly increased the interconnect density available for MCM-L applications. This paper describes the most promising CSP and HDI technologies for portable products, high performance computing and dense multi-chip modules.