Shin-Etsu Chemical Co. has developed equipment to manufacture semiconductor package substrates with a new manufacturing method subsequently to manufacturing micro-LED manufacturing system.

The equipment is a high-performance processing equipment using excimer laser in which a dual damascene method, as is also used in the front end of semiconductor manufacturing process, is applied to package substrate manufacturing process (back end process) (Shin-Etsu dual damascene method).

As a result, an interposer’s functions directly formed into a package substrate. This not only eliminates the need of an interposer, but also enables further microfabrication, where conventional manufacturing methods could not realize. It also reduces costs and capital investment as it does not require the photoresist process in package substrate manufacturing process.

A chiplet, in which circuits are singulated and then assembled in a package, has caught attention as a technology to reduce the manufacturing cost of higher-performance semiconductors. This technology requires a process to mount several chiplets on an intermediate substrate and connect them. The intermediate substrate is called an “interposer.”

With the Shin-Etsu dual damascene method, interposer is not necessary anymore, so it significantly simplifies the assembly process. In this method, chiplets are connected to a package substrate with wiring patterns which has equivalent function to an interposer. Consequently, the assembly process of advanced semiconductors with chiplet technology can be shortened and its cost can be drastically reduced.

Shin-Etsu Chemical is working on initiatives to integrate its own material and equipment technologies. By developing new process technology, we will propose total solutions from the perspectives of both equipment and materials and take the lead in the development of next-generation technologies to create an affluent society.