Intel Corp. continues to tout its advanced packaging capabilities and why it is important to next generation semiconductor manufacturing with the introduction of what it claims is one of the first glass substrates for packaging.
Planned to deliver a complete glass substrate solution by the latter part of this decade, Intel said the technology will allow the company to continue to scale transistors in a package and advance Moore’s Law beyond 2030.
The advantages of glass substrates over organic are ultra-low flatness and better thermal and mechanical stability. This results in higher interconnect density in a substrate so semiconductor designers can create high-density, high-performance chip packages for data-intensive applications like artificial intelligence.
More transistors
Intel is aiming for 1 trillion transistors on a package by 2030. Glass substrates as well as other packaging technologies like Intel’s embedded multi-die interconnect bridge (EMIB) and Foveros chip packaging for Intel Foundry Services will help achieve this goal.
Specifically, glass substrates’ mechanical, physical and optical properties allow for more transistors through better scaling and the assembly of larger chiplet complexes. Meaning more chiplets and more transistors.
Why glass?
According to Intel, glass substrates can tolerate higher temperatures while also offering a 50% less pattern distortion and low flatness. This improves depth of focus for lithography and stability for tight layer-to-layer interconnect overlay.
Because of this, a potential 10 times increase in interconnect density is possible with glass substrates. Intel said.
Additionally, power delivery and signal routing may be more flexible in future chip designs due to the high temperature tolerance of glass substrates. This gives the technology the ability to integrate optical interconnects or embed inductors and capacitors into the glass at higher temperatures.
