Samsung and Qualcomm Forge 2.1D Packaging Alliance

Samsung and Qualcomm are reportedly forming a 2.1D Packaging Alliance to provide customers with access to advanced chip packaging using bridges that connect silicon dies. Interestingly, Samsung and Qualcomm are developing an organic bridge technology that will serve as the adhesive to hold two chips together. For example, Intel already uses a similar approach with its Embedded Multi-die Interconnect Bridge (EMIB) advanced packaging, but it employs small silicon bridges. The new 2.1D packaging alliance will use organic bridges made from materials commonly found in traditional PCBs, such as organic polymer materials like epoxy and copper wiring, to interconnect multiple chips.

This organic bridge uses redistribution layers (RDL), formed by multiple layers of fine circuitry with extremely small wires and space between them. This makes the technology more similar to PCB manufacturing than silicon manufacturing, enabling packaging densities that closely match modern silicon-based EMIB. Reportedly, Samsung will manufacture this 2.1D package using multiple RDLs packaged inside a flip-chip ball grid array package. Ultimately, the company aims for the organic bridge's line width and spacing to be 1.5 to 2 micrometers each, with via sizes of 4 to 5 micrometers. Die-to-die pattern density is targeted at 500 to 1,000 per millimeter. Read full story