Microsystems roadmap predicts technical challenge for packaging industry

Citation

(1999), "Microsystems roadmap predicts technical challenge for packaging industry", Microelectronics International, Vol. 16 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/mi.1999.21816cab.022

Microsystems roadmap predicts technical challenge for packaging industry

Microsystems roadmap predicts technical challenge for packaging industry

Keyword Europractice

New packaging technologies stimulated by developments in microsystems applications will emerge over the next decade, according to the roadmap outlined by Dr Malcolm Wilkinson, one of the co-ordinators of the Europractice Project, at this year's IMAPS Conference.

Microsystems, widely used in automotive accelerometers and ink jet printers, are increasingly being adopted for new applications such as lab-on-a-chip, catheters, medical implants and hearing aids. In response to the requirement to interface with the real world through heat, light, sound, magnetism and movement as well as the more usual electrical signals, the packaging industry faces an immense technical challenge.

In order to solve these problems, says Dr Wilkinson, novel packaging technologies are being developed and existing technologies from the world of mainstream electronics are being adapted. For instance, it is now feasible to thin silicon wafers down from a standard 400 micron thickness to 20 micron after processing and over the next ten years this possibility will lead to improved functionality and flexibility of the endoscopes and catheters required for minimally invasive surgery. Current developments in ceramic and plastic packaging could also have a major impact in medical implants such as pacemakers.

In the longer term, new types of microsystems devices for bioscience applications, including drug development, diagnostic testing and forensic testing, will call for disposable, low-cost products that integrate fluidics, electronic and optical devices. Dr Wilkinson's opinion is that solutions based on plastic moulded devices or laser cut laminated films may well solve the problem of low cost fluidic channels. However, for a fully integrated biological diagnostic microsystem, these may need to be coupled with electro-osmotic pumps or similar devices, and integrated with low-cost CMOS imagers. The technical challenges for packaging are considerable.