Plasma Dicing: Current State & Future Trends

Abstract

Die singulation by mechanical sawing has been the primary technology used in semiconductor device fabrication for decades. However, as device structures continue to evolve to meet increasing performance requirements, fundamental limitations of the sawing operation have been exposed. Obtaining reasonable dicing throughput and yield for die less than 100µm thick is a challenge for the sawing operation. One alternative to saw-based dicing is die singulation using plasma etching. This paper compares and contrasts plasma dicing on tape (PDOT) processes to conventional mechanical saw and laser processes. While saw-and laser-based processes are serial in nature, plasma dicing is a parallel process, which significantly increases equivalent cutting speeds, particularly for die that are less than 150µm thick. Along with higher die throughput, plasma dicing can deliver higherquality die than alternative methods. Die singulated by plasma dicing have shown up to 9 times greater die strength than mechanically sawed die. Finally, the paper discusses issues and solutions related to PDOT process integration, including maintaining tape integrity, street definition / masking approaches, and downstream integration.

Advanced 3D Through-Si-Via and Solder Bumping Technology: A Review

“…Westerman et al have revealed that the die fabricated through plasma dicing had nine times higher die strength than dies that were cut mechanically [84]. In addition, 29,251 dies of 1 mm 2 size were obtained from 200 mm diameter wafers using plasma dicing, showing a more efficient method than mechanical dicing (24,867 dies) and laser dicing (26,798 dies).…”

“…They also showed how the process and sidewall quality for plasma dicing affected the die break strength at various orientations and presented a comparison of sidewall quality and process timings to traditional mechanical blade dicing for certain die sizes. Westerman et al have revealed that the die fabricated through plasma dicing nine times higher die strength than dies that were cut mechanically [84]. In add 29,251 dies of 1 mm 2 size were obtained from 200 mm diameter wafers using plasm ing, showing a more efficient method than mechanical dicing (24,867 dies) and laser d (26,798 dies).…”

Twin physically unclonable functions based on aligned carbon nanotube arrays

“…We estimated that currently our FET failure would cause a 1 % inconsistency, but this can be reduced to a very low level in a mature device fabrication process. To safely separate twin PUFs, the distance between twin PUFs must be larger than approximately 30 μm, considering that the cut size is approximately 10 μm using plasma dicing 51 . According to the simulated results, the consistency of twin PUFs will decrease to a barely acceptable value of 85 % when the PUF distance is 30 μm (Fig.…”