Heterogeneous Device Packaging Technology for the Internet of Things Applications

: The Internet of Things (IoT) is a new technology paradigm demanding one packaged system of various semiconductor and MEMS devices. Therefore, the development of electronic packaging technology with very high connectivity is essential for successful IoT applications. This paper discusses both fan-out wafer level packaging (FOWLP) and 3D stacking technologies to achieve the integrattion of heterogeneous devices for IoT. FOWLP has great advantages of high I/O density, high integration, and design flexibility, but ultra-fine pitch redistribution layer (RDL) and molding processes still remain as main challenges to resolve. 3D stacking is an emerging technology solving conventional packaging limits such as size, performance, cost, and scalability. Among various 3D stacking sequences wafer level via after bonding method will provide the highest connectivity with low cost. In addition substrates with ultra-thin thickness, ultra-fine pitch line/space, and low cost are required to improve system performance. The key substrate technologies are embedded trace, passive, and active substrates or ultra-thin coreless substrates.