iMaps Announcements 10/2023

Review EMPC 2023

The EMPC - European Microelectronics and Packaging Conference - is without doubt the most important European IMAPS event, which also enjoys a high international reputation and is very well received. EMPC 2023, the 24th conference in the series, was hosted by IMAPS UK colleagues and took place in Hinxton (not far from Cambridge) from September 11 to 14. IMAPS Europe and IEEE - Electronics Packaging Society were also involved in the organization and funding. The participants attested to the excellent organization on site and a well-chosen location - the Hinxton Hall Conference Centre at the Wellcome Genome Campus in Hinxton. The proximity to Cambridge, a famous university town, a place where many discoveries and inventions have been made and where many innovative companies have emerged, also added a special flair. As the Genome Centre is not located directly in Cambridge, a shuttle bus service was provided by the organizers.

King's College in Cambridge from River Cam

Conference opening by Anne Vanhoestenberghe, EMPC 2023 Conference ChairLet's first look at a brief statistical summary: the conference was quite well attended with over 260 participants from 25 countries. Almost a third of the participants (80) came from the United Kingdom. The German IMAPS chapter was traditionally well represented (62 participants), with more than ten colleagues each from France, Italy, Japan, the USA and the Netherlands. During the three and a half day conference program, four educational courses were offered, five keynotes and 69 papers were presented in 20 technical sessions and 18 posters were presented in the poster session. Thirty-six companies took part in the trade exhibition. Looking at the talks and poster presentations, the German IMAPS community clearly stands out with 29 presenters, the second largest group being the UK with 14 presenters.

Following a good tradition, the first day, called "Pre-Conference Day", was dedicated to the educational courses. A total of four "Short Courses" were offered, each lasting half a day:

• "Evolution of Die Attach Adhesives & Encapsulants used in Semi-Conductor Packaging" with Tony Winster from Henkel Ltd, Germany
• "Fan-out, Chiplet Design, and Heterogeneous Integration Packaging" with John H. Lau, Unimicron Technology Corporation, USA
• "Power Electronics Packaging - Understanding the Packaging Processes" with Andy Longford, PandA Europe, UK
• "From Wafer to Panel Level Packaging" with Tanja Braun and Markus Wöhrmann from Fraunhofer IZM.

The two and a half days of lectures were structured as half-day blocks: each with a keynote presentation as an introduction and the following four technical sessions in two parallel tracks. The technical sessions covered a wide range of topics from the IMAPS field of work. They dealt with traditional issues such as substrate technologies in both the LTCC/HTCC variant and the thick film. Dedicated sessions were devoted to interconnect materials, sintering, soldering, flip-chip assembly, adhesives, encapsulants, conformal coating and TIMs. The strongly application-driven topics such as sensor technology, power modules, high-frequency and medical technology played an important role. Of course, reliability and inspection were also addressed. Presentations were also given on very current topics such as sustainability and the application of machine learning in the packaging sector.

Some IMAPS DE participants in front of the conference center

The first keynote presentation by Chris Scanlon, Senior Vice President Technology at Besi Switzerland, was dedicated to assembly and interconnection technology for chiplets. In his presentation, he introduced the bonding technologies used in chiplet integration, such as die-to-wafer hybrid bonding, which is already used in high-volume production for high-performance computing applications. The other technologies required for integration, some of which are still under development, were also addressed, such as fan-out and bridge die attach, wafer-level flip-chip and wafer molding. The importance of standardization for the further development of the chiplet ecosystem was also highlighted. Besi is one of the leading manufacturers of assembly equipment and has supported EMPC 2023 as a Platinum Sponsor.

In the keynote lecture by Florin Udrea (Cambridge GaN Devices, Fellow of Royal Academy of Engineering) "Wide-Bandgap Devices and Multidimentional Architectures in the New Era of Power Electronics", the currently used and potential wide-bandgap and ultra-wide-bandgap semiconductor materials were presented and their use in power electronics discussed. The focus was on well-known semiconductors such as SiC and GaN and the alternatives currently being actively researched such as GaO, AlN and diamond. In addition, the new multidimensional assembly architectures were shown, which can further increase the performance of power modules.

Ali Murad (Paragraf, UK) informed the conference participants in his keynote lecture "The Challenges of Integrating Graphene into Existing Packages" about the manufacturing processes and challenges in the production and packaging of graphene-based sensors for industrial use. Paragraf is the world's first series manufacturer of graphene-based electronic components using standard semiconductor technology. Ali Murad also showed practical application examples for the use of graphene-based sensors.

The keynote lecture by Mark Gerber (ASE Group, USA) "Advanced Packaging - Challenges that are Driving New Package Innovation and Ecosystem Needs" dealt on the one hand with the technologies that must be used for the electronic systems of the next generations, such as fan-out wafer level packaging, hybrid packaging, system-in-package and 2.5D/3D integration. The presentation also discussed the multi-physical influences, the aspects of signal and power integrity and IP protection.

In the final keynote presentation, "Reinventing Electronics for a Sustainable World", Feras Alkhalil from Pragmatic Semiconductor, UK, reported on Pragmatic's Flexible Integrated Circuits (FlexIC) technology and his company's foundry, which is available to developers of ultra-low-cost systems. FlexIC technology, based on metal oxide semiconductors, enables very short design cycles and can contribute to the sustainability of electronics through its environmental friendliness.

The conference was further enhanced by a well-attended exhibition with 36 participating companies. Exhibitors had several participation options: they could be a Platinum Sponsor (Besi - BE Semiconductor Industries N.V.) or one of the Gold Sponsors (Accelonix, Inseto, PacTech). There were also options to participate as a Silver Exhibitor, Bronze Exhibitor or Table Top Exhibitor.

The organizers provided enough space for networking during the conference. The participants had many opportunities to get in touch with each other and cultivate their networks, both during the breaks and after the lecture program at the Welcome Reception on Monday, "Exhibition, Poster, Pizza" on Tuesday and at the conference dinner on Wednesday. The fact that the exhibition and catering took place in the foyer right next to the two lecture rooms meant that every break could be used to exchange ideas with other participants and exhibitors. Four teams of authors were honored during the closing session. Based on the presentation given, the technical content and the quality of the written publication, the "Best Paper Award" was presented to Julie Gougeon, CEA Leti, France, for the paper "Development and Characterization of Fine Pitch Flip-Chip Interconnection Using Silver Sintering". The "Best Poster Award" went to Chuantong Chen from Osaka University for the paper "Improvement of Bonding Strength and Thermal Shock Reliability for Ag Sinter Joining Direct on Al Substrate". In addition, "Highly Commended" paper and poster awards were presented. These went to Tadatomo Yamada (LINTEC Corporation, Japan, "Research of Chip Placement Accuracy for Fan-Out WLP Using a Novel Self-Assembly Stage") and Martin Hirman (University of West Bohemia, Czech Republic, "Reliability Testing of Recycled SMD Components Reused in E-Textiles After Ageing by Washing Cycles"). We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all the authors on their excellent work!

Finally, we would like to point out that all submitted articles will be published on IMAPS Source and IEEE Xplore.

Reminder - Call for Papers for the Electronics and Systems Integration Symposium (ESI 2024) in Landshut

On April 17, 2024, the 4th Electronics and System Integration Symposium (ESI 2024) will take place at Landshut University of Applied Sciences. The ESI symposium offers a cross-technology and cross-industry platform and is aimed at decision-makers and employees of companies and service providers (manufacturing, research & development, technical marketing, etc.), universities, universities of applied sciences, research institutions, associations and all interested parties. We would like to receive proposals for presentations in the following areas in particular:

• Sensor and actuator systems
• Assembly and connection technology
• System components and system integration
• Embedded systems
• Robotics, autonomous systems and industrial solutions
• Printed electronics
• Artificial intelligence
• Sustainability in the electronics environment.

Experts are cordially invited to present innovative solutions, services or research findings to an interested specialist audience in specialist lectures and at a specialist exhibition. The elaborated contributions can also be published online in the accompanying digital conference proceedings (with assignment of a DOI identifier). Furthermore, companies, start-ups, graduates and students can present innovative products, new developments and the results of research and development projects in a poster session.

The registration deadline for presentations is October 30, 2023. Further information on the ESI 2024 symposium, details on presentation registration etc. can be found at: www.symposium-esi.de.