System-in-Package Technology: Opportunities and Challenges

Anna Fontanelli
Mentor Graphics Corporation


Abstract

In 2006, the leading wireless phone industry has introduced literally hundreds of new, different wireless phones, which have been manufactured in approximately 1 billion units, generating revenue of about $128B. The semiconductor revenue has been about $33B. The ASP is declining, both in the wireless phone and semiconductor industry. In order to fix that, Moore's Law is being inverted: instead of getting twice the transistors for the same cost, the wireless phones industry seeks to obtain the same number of transistors for half the cost. This is making System-on-chip (SoC) no longer a viable solution. System-in-Package (SiP) looks much more promising. Lack of EDA solutions — especially the A of automation — has so far slowed down the ramp-up of SiP. In this paper we describe the landscape and present a SiP platform solution which addresses the challenges of simplification, cost reduction, quality and reliability improvement, yet allowing exploiting the most recent advances in IC packaging.