Ansys announced TSMC certified ANSYS solutions for the 7 nanometer FinFET Plus (N7+) process node with extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) technology and validated the reference flow for the latest Integrated Fan-Out with Memory on Substrate (InFO_MS) advanced packaging technology. The certifications and validations are vital for fabless semiconductor companies that require their simulation tools to pass rigorous testing and validation for new process nodes and packaging technologies. The General Manager at said that ANSYS semiconductor solutions address complex multi-physics challenges such as power, thermal, reliability and impact of process variation on product performance. He also added that ANSYS’ comprehensive Chip Package System solutions for chip aware system and system aware chip signoff help mutual customers accelerate design convergence with greater confidence.

ASE has managed to achieve as high as 99% yield rates in the final test stage for its FOPLP process indicating significant progress in the fan-out panel-level packaging services in the first half of 2019. The Fan-out panel level packaging is considered as a cost-effective next generation highly integrated IC packaging technology. The company is looking to take a leap forward in its FOPLP business development in the first half of 2019.

Through-silicon vias are basically used to connect one chip to the other by stacking, but that does not make the system smarter. Engineers in Germany are making a modification by changing to through silicon transistors. It will let designers to actively control which signals are allowed to go from one chip to another. The researchers started with a sliver of silicon, an interposer, holes were turned into a field effect transistor. 

Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test (OSAT) service providers experienced strong growth in 2017. Growth in power devices , automotive electronics and Internet of Things will prove to be a strong market for OSATs. These applications generate large amount of data creating the need for datacenters and servers. Artificial Intelligence across a broad range of applications is driving demand for high-performance packages. growth in cryptocurrency provided unanticipated revenue for a number of OSATs which directly attributed to the assembly of ASICs in flip chip scale packages (FC-CSPs) and GPUs in flip chip ball grid arrays (FC-BGAs) for the cryptocurrency market.

Performance driven applications like PCs and Smartphones are giving way to the industry’s future course. The transition from the subtractive to the mSAP process and from PCB to substrate-like PCB is under way in high-end smartphones, driven by Apple and its iPhone 8/iPhone X. SLP describes the transition of a board into a product with package-substrate like features which includes higher line resolution, better electrical performance and potential for space and energy-saving.  The SLP has opened a new market and is expected to grow with a CAGR of 64% from 2017-2023.