Packaging Materials in High‑Performance Computing Applications

Abstract

What drove electronics to what it is today is transistor scaling.
But the emerging trend for computing, along with smartphones, IoTs and
wearables and all other small systems as well as a new era in automotive
electronics, requires a new electronics system. A new system technology
frontier, enabled by scaling of system components and system intercon‑
nections, is emerging to address this need. This requires a next-gener‑
ation set of materials to realize system functions such as digital, optical,
thermal, RF, mm wave, power, etc. This paper reviews the key system
component and packaging needs, advances and emerging materials for
computing applications. Glass-based device and systems packaging for
such systems are ideal for scaling because of its many advantages such
as dimensional stability, low loss, large-area panel-scale processability,
surface smoothness, matched CTE with silicon, chemical inertness, etc.
High-performance computing is also driving the need for unprecedented
material advances in low-permittivity and low-loss thin-flm package
substrate dielectrics with high temperature, high-power handling and
ultra-high reliability. For power supply, a major leap in energy storage
densities is achieved with ultrahigh density capacitors from nanoscale
surfaces and nanomagnetic inductors. Such nanostructures also mini‑
mize power consumption by enhancing the power conversion effciency.
Nanocopper-based interconnections, without solders, and yet assem‑
bled at low temperature, below 200 °C drive the next wave of assembly
manufacturing and reliability innovation.