CEA-Leti announces partnerships on 3D
semiconductor tech and chip design tools
CEA-Leti has announced a multi-partner project to demonstrate
high-alignment-accuracy (<1(m) chip-to-wafer structures
made by direct metallic bonding, which are required for
high-performance 3D semiconductor ICs. 3D semiconductor
technology can enable a wide range of applications where
normal analog and digital chips can be integrated with optoelectronic
devices and MEMS in single package.
Leti has acquired a customized 300mm FC300 pick-and-place
tool from SET, Smart Equipment Technology, to demonstrate
the technology. The customized system will be used by the
Minalogic PROCEED project. Minalogic is the global competitive
cluster specialized in micro- and nanotechnologies and embedded
intelligence. In addition to Leti and SET, partners are
STMicroelectronics, ALES and the CNRS-CEMES; PROCEED Minalogic
project is a 4.2 Million Euros, 24 months project started
in Dec 2009 and supported by French FIU (Fond Interministeriel
Unique).
The chip-to-wafer direct-metallic-bonding technology was
developed at Leti to break through certain 3D-integration
limitations. For example, the technology allows chips to
be attached to a substrate at low temperature and with a
low bonding pressure. This technology also allows interconnecting
the chip and the substrate electrically through local metallic
bonding.
"This collaboration puts Leti in a very good worldwide
position for 3D-technologies development," said Leti
CEO Laurent Malier. "We will identify the key challenges
of 3D product engineering, and chip-to-wafer strategy with
direct-metallic bonding is a very promising option for overcoming
those challenges."
The equipment was developed by SET based on its high placement
accuracy FC300 system to adapt it to direct metallic bonding
requirements.
"SET is proud of leading the Minalogic project, PROCEED,
in collaboration with STMicroelectronics, CEA-Leti, ALES
and the CNRS-CEMES," said Gaël Schmidt, managing
director of SET. "It provides cutting-edge equipment
solutions enabling the CEA-Leti process integration. SET
has a strong interest for this non thermocompression metal-tometal
bonding, which may be a key to throughput improvement required
for the adoption of 3D-IC integration."
CEA-Leti now can offer heterogeneous integration technologies
to customers on both 200mm and 300mm semiconductor wafers.
The new line, dedicated to R&D and prototyping, includes
3D-oriented lithography, deep etching, dielectric deposition,
metallization, wet etching and packaging tools that will
be available for Leti's customers and partners around the
world.
In a separate release Magillem has announced the signing
of a multi-year collaboration agreement with CEA.
The project will focus on development of unified hardware/software
design tools for complex systems-on-chip (SOC) to reduce
design-iteration steps and improve the verification path.
The design process of embedded systems has changed substantially
in recent years. To shorten time-to-market, designers integrate
more and more software to add functionality and flexibility.
Current development methods for embedded systems decouple
the design of application software from the design of its
execution platform. This results in intractable verification
of the entire system, along with sub-optimal hardware/software
partitions, and discontinuities in the design flow. It also
makes specifications revision difficult and directly impacts
time-to-market.
Magillem brings its know-how in design methods and tools
as well as innovative solutions for complex SOC design and
reuse. Leti and LIST, institutes of CEA, will bring their
expertise on SOC design to help Magillem extend its design
technology offer. The goal is to ease hardware-and-software
integration and enable global validation of SOC.
The joint-development work will take place at the CRI PILSI,
the Integration Research Center of the International Software
and Smart Systems Cluster, in Gières, France.
CEA-Leti has also announced that it is making its new anechoic
chamber available to businesses and researchers from private
and academic research labs.
The controlled environment allows precise measurement of
the electromagnetic fields of wireless communication systems.
The electromagnetic shielding in the 20-meter-long, 12-meter-high,
12-meter-wide metallic structure provides upwards of 90dB
of electromagnetic interference attenuation. The size and
placement of the insulation materials lining its interior
maximize its ability to absorb even small levels of electromagnetic
waves (starting at just a few dozen MHz).
This makes it possible to simulate free-space propagation
and avoid parasitic reflections, which result in dramatically
improved precision when measuring the electromagnetic spectrum
below 1GHz. This capacity for measurement at such low levels
puts this tool in a class of its own. Test objects are placed
six meters above the ground on a rotating platform measuring
four meters in diameter that can support up to two tons.
Easily configured to meet varying project needs: The size
and technical specifications of the chamber make it a unique
resource for businesses as well as private and academic
research labs. It is housed in the Integrative Industries
Building (B2I) on the MINATEC campus in Grenoble and can
easily be reconfigured to meet the varying needs of different
projects.
The new instrument will not only prove useful for the research
teams at CEA-Leti, but also for those in the telecommunications
industry. For example, it can be programmed to determine
the far-field characteristics of a dormant antenna, or an
actively transmitting one, at as little as 100MHz. Until
now, experiments at those frequencies were conducted primarily
outdoors and were limited to military, aeronautic, astronautic,
and automotive applications.
Competition for 'golden frequencies' : The transition from
analogue to digital television has sparked competition and
debate concerning the use of the resulting net gain in available
radio frequencies (commonly referred to as the digital dividend).
These "golden frequencies" are considered to be
particularly suited to the wave propagation of mobile communication
and other wireless systems.
As the number of wireless applications destined for the
consumer market increases, so does the need for an experiment
environment that can adapt to the characteristics of those
frequencies. This shift places this "electromagnetic-echoless"
chamber squarely at the forefront of global telecommunications
research.
