Belgacem Haba, Ph.D., Fellow and CTO of advanced packaging and interconnect, Tessera Inc. San Jose, CA, gave an insightful speech on Sunday, March 9, 2008, the tutorial day of the show, titled “Catching the Mobile Wave: Packaging Is Going 3D”. Haba claimed that hand-held communication and entertainment products will dominate and control the technological direction of consumer markets worldwide. With each successive generation, miniaturization and systems-level integration become more important. Though product functionality increases, customers expect smaller, lighter, less expensive products. Taking the cell phone as an example of how new technologies can be applied to improve performance and functionality, he discussed the types of materials packed into every new cell phone including oscillators, filters, capacitors, resistors, connectors, and cables. One method of thinning layers of electronics is through using 3D stacked packages. Then Haba concluded by reviewing exciting new methods for building 3D packages to fit future needs including the use of thru silicon vias (TSVs) for interconnect, wafer thinning, and embedded packages.

By Patrick Carrier, Mentor Graphics