Technology Grand Challenges:

Today’s most capable AI chips are enabled by multiple advanced packaging technologies, such as micro-bumps, through-silicon vias (TSVs) and silicon interposers. The next generation of chips will be built using advanced packaging techniques that require even more complex integration pathways. Some key building blocks discussed were:

• Hybrid bonding was highlighted by multiple participants as a critical building block for driving higher density connections. An emerging challenge is the need for extremely tight process control to manage particles that can cause defects, similar to front-end wafer processing fabs. 
• Photonics promises significant improvement in energy-efficient performance, but more investment is needed to demonstrate the feasibility of high-density optical interconnects and to examine tradeoffs with conventional interconnects.
• The unique nature of glass substrates requires new approaches to inspection, metrology, handling, processing and forming interconnects.
• There is a growing need for thermal management techniques that focus on reducing heat generation, incorporating lower resistance interconnects in packages, and removing the waste heat produced in a packaged system.
• Several participants called for bridging the divide between front-end and back-end manufacturing processes, emphasizing the need for back-end manufacturing to incorporate learnings from the front-end – where the industry has converged on a common roadmap of key technology inflections.

Building Talent and Capacity:

The industry is facing a significant talent gap, with some estimating the need to recruit one million additional skilled workers over the next decade. This gap is driven by an insufficient number of graduates, an aging workforce, and a lack of appeal among potential candidates. Some recommendations from the summit include:

• Heterogeneous integration is not just about integrating technology components, but also about integrating people with different expertise – placing an emphasis on the need for a new kind of system-level thinking.
• Engineering curricula should reflect the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of advanced packaging.
• Many leaders called for innovative strategies to attract young talent, often drawing inspiration from the software industry. They stressed the need to improve the brand of the advanced packaging industry, leveraging creative tactics to improve the attractiveness of working in cleanroom environments.
• To the next generation of talent, doing meaningful work can be just as important as compensation and perks. To address this, the industry could better showcase its role in enabling solutions to the climate crisis while it focuses on creating more sustainable manufacturing processes.
• The industry should facilitate educational programs for young girls and women and ensure they can see role models in the semiconductor industry.

My key takeaway from the discussion is that we must innovate how we innovate. Industry-wide, global collaboration is essential to accelerating innovation in packaging technologies, closing the gap between the lab and the fab, and preparing a skilled workforce to meet the needs of this new era of energy-efficient computing. In the following video, several summit participants highlight the clear need for increased collaboration across the ecosystem, as well as earlier engagement with all parts of the value chain. To access more interviews with summit participants, please visit: 2024 Leadership Summit for Advanced Packaging.