1. 3D Glass & Silicon Interposers
Report Details:
Published:September 2012
No. of Pages: 360
Price: Single User License – US$5390
Why and how 2.5D integration will impact more than 15% of the IC substrate business by
2017
2.5D AND 3D INTEGRATION IS SET TO BE A LONG-LASTING TREND IN THE
SEMICONDUCTOR INDUSTRY
After meeting with swift commercial success on a few initial applications, including MEMS, sensors
and power amplifiers, 3D integration has been on everyone’s mind for the past five years.
However, once the initial euphoria faded, and despite technical developments which assured most
observers that mass adoption of 3D was not out of reach, some unanticipated technical and
supply chain hurdles were revealed that were higher than anticipated. It was then that 2.5D
integration by means of 3D glass or silicon interposers was revealed by experts as a necessary
stepping-stone to full 3D integration. Our first report on 3D interposers and 2.5D integration was in
2010; at that time, we listed the various applications of this technology trend and its drivers, and
we showed that glass and silicon interposers were expected to become high-volume necessities,
rather than just high-performance solutions for a few niche applications.
In this 2012 edition of that report, we provide more evidence of our findings from two years ago:
after refining the applications and drivers of 3D interposers and 2.5D integration with the use of
detailed forecasts, Yole Développement estimates that far from being a stepping-stone technology
to full 3D integration, 3D interposers and 2.5D integration is emerging as a mass volume, long-
lasting trend in the semiconductor industry.
THE BUSINESS GENERATED BY THE 2.5D INTERPOSER SUBSTRATE WILL GROW
RAPIDLY, TO AN EXPECTED TOTAL VALUE OF $1.6B IN 2017
Glass & silicon 2.5D interposers are already a commercial reality in MEMS, Analog, RF & LED
applications on 150mm / 200mm, supported by the relatively ‘exotic’ infrastructures of MEMS
players such as IMT-MEMS, Silex Microsystems, DNP, and DALSA / Teledyne, and structured
glass substrate suppliers like HOYA, PlanOptik, NEC / Schott, and tecnisco. On 300mm, the

2. infrastructure and market for 2.5D/3D interposers has hardly emerged as of 2012, but
nevertheless we expect that in 2017, over 2 million 300mm wafers will be produced in that year
alone. We also expect that the silicon or glass type of 2.5D interposer substrate will impact more
than 16% of the traditionally ‘organic-made’ IC package substrate business by 2017, with almost
$1.6B revenues generated by then.
STRONG DIGITAL DRIVERS WILL SHIFT TECHNOLOGY AND SUPPLY CHAIN PARADIGMS
As technology developments progress, the industry will discover clear advantages to using 2.5D
interposers for new applications and supply chain possibilities. Throughout this 2012 report, we
detail these new lead applications, as well as the relevant needs and challenges.
Also, we show evidence that this emerging infrastructure, which was initially focused on MEMS
and sensors, is shifting paradigms to logic modules driven by stringent electrical and thermal
performance requirements. As a result, the demand for interposers is shifting to fine-pitch 300mm
diameter silicon wafers and high-accuracy flip chip micro-bumping and assembly.
Graphical Processor Units for gaming and computing and high-performance ASICs and FPGAs
are paving the way, with high volumes first expected in 2013. As these drivers increasingly appear
as must-haves to serve the ever-increasing need for larger electrical bandwidths imposed by
graphical sophistication, cloud computing and many more end uses, leading companies are busy
creating the appropriate infrastructure.
The semiconductor supply chain is adapting to these significant in substrate technologies.
Wafer foundries appear to be the most able entities to offer manufacturing solutions on the open
market, both technically and in terms of capex investment capabilities. But their ambition extends
far beyond the manufacturing of wafers, and into assembly and test services as well.
Concurrently, some of the major IDMs are preparing to exploit their wide capabilities and to enter
the open foundry and assembly services side for 2.5D and 3D integration based on such new type
of IC package substrate technologies.
IS COST REALLY AN ISSUE IN THE LONG TERM?
Significant investments began in 2012, with more than $150M capex expected and driven by both
wafer foundries (TSMC, Global Foundries) and OSATs (Amkor, ASE). No one, especially in
Taiwan, wants to be left behind in this high-growth story, as it clearly appears to be a central piece
of the increasing middle-end business and infrastructure, halfway between the front-end silicon
foundries and the back-end assembly & test facilities.
The question now is: “can anyone build a profitable business case to support the growth of

3. 2.5D/3D interposers”? In other words, how long will it take for investing companies to be paid
back, while offering affordable prices to their customers? Yole expects the expansion model of this
new technology trend to follow a traditional path: first, high-value modules are expected to use the
technology to offer unprecedented high performance, followed by higher volume applications.
The nice thing about 2.5D interposers is that they do not only allow for unprecedented
performance: they can do so for a much lower cost than any competing technology. Through a few
cost cases in this report, we demonstrate that cost can be a strong adoption driver too. No, silicon
and glass interposers are not “additional dead pieces of hardware in the package” -- on the
contrary, they are among the top five key elements of the semiconductor roadmap for the decade
2010-2020.
KEY FEATURES OF THE REPORT
•Detailed view, by product and device type, of the key applications driving the commercialization
of 2.5D interposer substrates
•Detailed 2011 – 2017 market forecast in both unit and wafer shipments, including a revenues
analysis of Middle-end to Back-end assembly & test-related activities
•Overview of the positioning of different key players, and an understanding of supply chain
challenges happening between the different business models in place
•Technology trends & roadmaps, including the topic of glass interposers and the possible move to
large PANEL area processing, leveraging LCD or PCB infrastructures
•Detailed cost structure of several different 2.5D interposer packages: system-level evaluation of
several different case scenarios, analyzing the expected cost decrease trend over five years
•Analysis of the required investment in terms of capex between 2011 - 2017
COMPANIES CITED IN THIS REPORT
Altera, Amkor, Allvia, Apple, Asahi Glass Corporation (AGC), ASE, Bosch, Avago Technologies,
CEA-Leti, Cisco, Dai Nippon Print (DNP), Dalsa, EPWorks, eSilicon, Flip Chip International (FCI),
Fraunhofer Institüt, Fujikura, Fujitsu, GlobalFoundries, GlobalUniChip (GUC), Hoya,Huawei,
Ibiden, IBM, IME, IMEC, Intel, ipdia, LG Innotek, LSI Logic, Mediatek, Micron, Murata, Nepes,
Nokia, Oracle, PlanOptik, Qualcomm, Samsung, Sematech, Semtech, Sensonor, Shinko, Sibdi,
Silex, Sony, SPIL, StatsChipPac, STMicroelectronics, Suss Microtec, TDK-Epcos, Tecnisco,
Teledyne, Texas Instruments, Tezzaron, tMt, Toshiba, TSMC, UMC, Unisem, Viagan, VisEra, VTI
Technologies, Xilinx and more…
Get your copy of this report @
http://www.reportsnreports.com/reports/195557-3d-glass-silicon-interposers.html
Major points covered in Table of Contents of this report include
Report Scope , Definitions and Background p.3
Executive Summary p.15
Supply Chain Analysis p.42

4. Market Forecasts p.54
2010-2017 wafer forecasts p.57
2010-2017 unit forecasts p.76
2010-2017 revenue (M$) forecasts P.90
2011 interposer wafer capacity p.96
Applications and Drivers p.102
System partitioning interposers p.107
MEMS & sensors 3D capping interposers p.138
Interposers for CMOS image sensors p.158
3D silicon substrates for High-Power LEDs p.167
3D integrated passive devices p.196
Misc. Glass/silicon package substrates p.207
Technologies and Roadmaps p.215
Technologies and design rules for interposers, by applications p.216
Interposer manufacturing process flow p.233
Assembly and test p.236
Reliability p.250
Design and modeling p.252
Focus on Glass interposers p.256
Focus on PANEL interposers p.263
Roadmaps p.282
Technology Alternatives p.292
Organic interposers strike back !
2.5D integration with fan-out WLP (eWLB)
3D Interposers and 2.5D ModulesCost Case
Studies p.302
Cost model and cost down roadmap of a large
2.5D FPGA structure p.304
Cost model of a 2.5D APE for tablets p.325
Capex Investment Forecasts p.330
Conclusions p.337
APPENDIX p.344
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