Hans Stork, Group VP & CTO at Applied Materials discusses the progress being made in developing cost-effective 3D/TSV solutions. In particular, the company is working in an open architecture environment to ensure complete solutions are ready for end users.

While cost is one of the big drivers for TSV, what Stork says is exciting about the technology is its impact on performance. Logic, for example, can scale better since TSVs can affect I/O. The result is better performance, lower power, better formfactor, or some combination of those. Cost constraints also need to be met, of course, but performance benefits are the first key.

Stork further describes the technical challenges to developing mature integrated TSV processes, from the wafer level (e.g., etch, barrier, polishing, via fill) to things like wafer pinning and bonding, and even design rules. Bringing all those capabilities together in an open architecture offers complementary technology — “we’ve got pretty much all the building blocks in place,” he says. The real challenges now have more to do with materials, mechanics, integrity, and reliability, and of course ultimately productivity — with cost the final determining factor.