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CHIPS-funded Program for Advanced Metrology of Semiconductor Packaging Materials
February 12 @ 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm PST
Free – $5
- Stian Romberg, PhD, Materials Science and Engineering Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology
- Sponsored by Golden Gate Polymer Forum (GGPF)
- February 12, 2025, from 6:00-7:00 pm, Online, Free/$5 Donation, Registration required by Feb. 11th at 1:00 pm.
Abstract
The CHIPS and Science Act budgeted $52 billion to invest in America’s semiconductor industry, with $11 billion allocated for research and development activities, like advancing measurement sciences critical for innovation. The project described in this presentation is part of the CHIPS Metrology Program Grand Challenge 3, “Enabling Metrology for Integrating Components in Advanced Packaging.” We aim to improve the fundamental understanding of residual stress and warpage development in thermosetting polymers used for packaging semiconductors.
Thermosetting polymeric materials are essential in semiconductor packaging to provide mechanical integrity, dissipate excess heat, reduce signal loss, etc. However, the performance of these polymeric materials is affected by residual stresses generated from cure-induced shrinkage during processing and hygrothermal expansion/contraction during service. As advanced packaging trends towards thinner layers and 3D stacking, packages become more susceptible to these stresses, thereby compromising yield and reliability. Predictive models are used to analyze stress development in the package, but to limited success due to insufficient availability of material properties data. Furthermore, commercial thermoset packaging materials are typically highly filled, complex formulations that hinder traditional material property measurement tools and analyses.
Therefore, our project is assembling an extensive suite of advanced metrologies for accurate material property measurements under relevant hygrothermal conditions to inform predictive models and improve engineering design and manufacturing productivity. Metrologies currently include differential scanning calorimetry and simultaneous rheology and Raman spectroscopy, with additional spectroscopic, residual stress, and warpage measurement capabilities under development. Our plan is to (1) develop an open-source model material and (2) apply advanced metrologies that range from fundamental up to part-scale measurements. This approach will enable us to report material properties and measurement analyses with a level of transparency not observed in the semiconductor industry.
Speaker Background
Stian Romberg is a research scientist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). He received his BS in Mechanical Engineering at Brown University where he played wide receiver on the football team. Then, he earned his PhD in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Tennessee while conducting research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. After defending his dissertation, he completed an NRC postdoctoral appointment at NIST focused on using simultaneous rheology and Raman spectroscopy to design structurally stable curing schedules for additively manufactured thermoset composites. Stian remains at NIST, but his focus has shifted to developing metrologies and analyses to understand the fundamental behaviors that govern residual stress in thermoset-based materials used for semiconductor packaging.