Organic Wafer Support Structures for Thinned Substrate Handling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Semiconductor package fabrication processes face challenges in minimizing package size and providing adequate support to thinned semiconductor wafers without using a carrier, while ensuring robustness for subsequent packaging operations.
Innovation Solution
A support structure incorporating an organic compound is coupled to the wafer, featuring various designs such as a wheel and spoke structure, intersecting strips, or strips across the wafer, providing localized support and maintaining structural integrity during thinning and packaging processes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If the wafer is thinned to minimize package size, then the package size is reduced, but the structural integrity and robustness for subsequent packaging operations deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The support structure is segmented into multiple discrete organic compound formations (e.g., strips, wheel-and-spoke patterns, or localized regions) distributed across the wafer surface. This segmentation provides distributed structural reinforcement that maintains overall integrity while allowing the wafer to be thinned, as the support is distributed rather than concentrated in a single carrier structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The organic compound support structure provides localized reinforcement at specific regions of the thinned wafer where structural integrity is needed for subsequent packaging operations. This allows different regions of the wafer to have different properties - thinned and flexible in active areas, while reinforced in support areas - enabling package size minimization without compromising overall robustness.
2Strength
If a carrier is used to support the thinned wafer, then the structural integrity is maintained, but the package size increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the essential support function from the traditional carrier structure and implements it directly through organic compound formations integrated into the wafer itself. This eliminates the need for a separate carrier component, maintaining structural integrity through the organic support structures while avoiding the volume increase that would result from adding an external carrier.
Solution Approach 2:
The organic compound support structure merges the support function with the wafer structure itself, creating an integrated system where the support is part of the wafer rather than a separate component. This consolidation maintains the structural integrity needed for handling thinned wafers while minimizing package size by eliminating the need for additional carrier volume.
3Volume of moving object
If the wafer is thinned extensively, then the package size is minimized, but the ease of handling and robustness in subsequent processing steps deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The organic compound support structures are formed in advance during the semiconductor fabrication process, before the wafer undergoes thinning and subsequent packaging operations. This preliminary formation of support structures ensures that the thinned wafer has adequate structural reinforcement for handling and processing, without requiring extensive thinning that would compromise robustness.
Data Source
AI summary
Implementations of a semiconductor substrate may include a wafer including a first side and a second side; and a support structure coupled to the wafer at a desired location on the first side, the second side, or both the first side and the second side. The support structure may include an organic compound.