According to foreign media reports, Shin-Etsu Chemical has developed equipment for manufacturing semiconductor packaging substrates and is pursuing new methods to produce Micro LED manufacturing systems.
This device is a high-performance processing machine that utilizes excimer lasers and applies the dual damascene process, typically used in the front-end of semiconductor manufacturing, to the packaging substrate fabrication process (back-end process), hereafter referred to as the “Shin-Etsu Dual Damascene Process.” This approach directly integrates the functions of the intermediary layer into the packaging substrate. Not only does this eliminate the need for an intermediary layer, but it also enables finer processing that traditional methods cannot achieve. Furthermore, by removing the photoresist step from the packaging substrate manufacturing process, the method reduces both costs and capital investment.
The circuits within small chips are separated and then assembled into a package. This technology, which reduces the cost of manufacturing high-performance semiconductors, has garnered widespread attention in the industry. It involves a process that installs multiple small chips onto an intermediary substrate and connects them. This intermediary substrate is known as the “intermediary layer.”
With the Shin-Etsu Dual Damascene Process, the need for an intermediary layer is eliminated, significantly simplifying the assembly process. In this method, small chips are connected directly to packaging substrates equipped with wiring patterns that perform the same functions as the intermediary layer. As a result, the assembly process for advanced semiconductors utilizing small chip technology is shortened, and costs are substantially reduced.
The equipment employs advanced microfabrication technology to directly create intricate circuit patterns on each organic insulation layer of the multi-layer packaging substrate, followed by copper plating to form the circuits. It uses excimer lasers as the light source to mass-produce large-area circuit patterns. The Shin-Etsu Dual Damascene Process enables further miniaturization and finer processing, which is currently unattainable with mainstream semi-additive processes (SAP) that rely on dry film photoresists. By combining Shin-Etsu’s unique large-area photomasks made from its own photomask blanks and a special proprietary lens, the laser processing equipment can process areas as large as 100 mm square or more in a single step. Processing time varies with the substrate size, but the time required for forming wiring patterns and electrode pads is the same as that for forming vias. Moreover, the via processing time is independent of the number of vias. For instance, forming trenches 2 μm wide and 5 μm deep, electrode pads 10 μm in diameter and 5 μm deep, and through-holes (7 μm diameter at the top, 5 μm diameter at the bottom, 5 μm deep) on a 515 mm × 510 mm organic substrate takes approximately 20 minutes.
Shin-Etsu is actively working to integrate its material and equipment technologies. By developing new process technologies, the company is providing comprehensive solutions from both the equipment and materials side and leading the way in next-generation technology development, contributing to the creation of a more prosperous society.
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