ENTERTAINMENT

Freescale Semiconductor announced today that it signed a licensing agreement with Nepes Corporation, a leading Korean semiconductor parts and materials specialist, who will manufacture Freescale’s redistributed chip packaging (RCP) technology in a lower cost 300mm format.

Nepes installed the 300mm equipment set and manufacturing process capable of multiple layer single-die and multi-die system-in-package solutions at its facility in Singapore (Nepes Pte) earlier this year. The technology start-up at Nepes is in progress with a volume ramp forecast for the first quarter of 2011.

Freescale and Nepes are also collaborating in a joint development effort to further enhance the capabilities of the RCP technology. Development activities are expected to continue at both Freescale’s US RCP development facility in Tempe, Arizona and at Nepes’ facility in Singapore.

"Working with an outstanding company such as Nepes is a huge step toward introducing the RCP fan-out technology to the market,” said Ken Hansen, senior fellow, vice president and chief technology officer at Freescale. “Our joint development collaboration will also allow us to offer our customers compelling solutions for single die, 2D and 3D systems-in-package targeted at a broad range of industries and applications.”

“We are glad to work with Freescale, one of the leading companies in the semiconductor industry,” said Esdy Baek, senior vice president and chief of the global business center at Nepes. “Through licensing and the ongoing joint development of RCP, Nepes Corporation will be able to provide leading edge packaging solutions to the market. With RCP technology support from both South Korea and Singapore, Nepes is in a strong position to support our customers and the market.”

Freescale, which developed and introduced the now widely deployed ball grid array (BGA) packaging technology, announced the RCP technology in 2006. RCP integrates semiconductor packaging as a functional part of the die and system solution. It addresses some of the significant limitations associated with previous generations of packaging technologies by eliminating higher cost wire bonds, package substrates and flip chip bumps. In addition, RCP does not utilize blind vias or require thinned die to achieve thin profiles. These advancements simplify assembly, lower costs and provide compatibility with advanced wafer manufacturing processes utilizing low-k interlayer dielectrics.

The RCP fan-out package provides solutions for both highly sensitive analog devices and digital platforms. The technology is compatible with both small and larger package sizes. RCP accommodates single and multiple routing layers to optimize package size, performance, die size range of I/O and cost.

About RCP
RCP is a substrate-less embedded chip package that offers a low-cost, high performance, integrated alternative to current wire bond BGA and flip chip BGA packaging. Semiconductor devices are encapsulated into panels while routing of signals, power and ground is built directly on the panel. The RCP panel and signal buildup lower the cost of the package by eliminating wafer bumping and substrates, thereby enabling large scale assembly in panel form. The buildup provides better routing and integration capabilities than traditional printed circuit boards (PCB) or high density interconnect PCBs.  By eliminating chip to package bumping, the package is inherently lead-free and the stress of the package is reduced enabling ultra-low-k device compatibility.

Key advantages of RCP include:

• Improved electrical performance resulting from shortened routing distances and reduced contact resistance.
• Reduced cost due to elimination of wirebonds, large batch processing and simplified assembly process.
• Reduced assembly stress suitable for packaging low-k dielectrics increasingly common on modern semiconductor dice.
• RCP results in a “green” product, halogen and lead-free and RoHS compliant.
• Enables the reduction of die size due to an improvement in package performance.
• RCP technology can be highly integrated allowing for single-die, multi-die SiP, stacked packages and other 3D integrated packaging solutions.