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productronica 2025 18 Die offizielle Messezeitung www markttechnik de Advanced Packaging An European Example Research–Industry Collaboration in Advanced Packaging Anew collaboration between Silicon Austria Labs SAL and ERS electronic a German equipment manufacturer demonstrates how European partnerships contribute to the region’s goal of increasing the market share of its semiconductor ecosystem to 20 percent by 2030 By Dr Ali Roshanghias Silicon Austria Labs Sophia Oldeide ERS electronic GmbH Europe’s semiconductor landscape is undergoing an exciting transformation With the EU Chips Act in force since 2023 the continent is mobilizing its research industrial and political resources to reinforce semiconductor manufacturing capabilities and achieve greater technological sovereignty Strategic focus is being placed on strengthening the entire semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem meaning not only in design and frontend fabrication but across the entire value chain including backend processes such as assembly testing and packaging The EU Chips Act seeks to achieve this through three pillars one of which is supporting cuttingedge research and pilot lines The pilot lines aim to give European innovators access to advanced process technologies by bridging research and manufacturing Silicon Austria Labs SAL was founded in 2018 as Austria’s premier research centre for electronic and softwarebased systems Today it plays a significant role in Europe’s semiconductor R Dlandscape With facilities in Graz Villach and Linz SAL’s mission is to bridge the gap between fundamental research and industrial application thereby enabling innovations that strengthen Europe’s semiconductor value chain Over the past few years SAL has expanded its advanced packaging capabilities through major national and European initiatives Supported by Austria’s FFG infrastructure funding programme SAL is currently setting up a Fan-Out Wafer-Level Packaging FOWLP line in Villach which is planned to become fully operational by early 2026 This line will complement other SAL platforms including its hybrid bonding “Surfbond” line copackaged optics lab and throughsilicon via TSV integration facilities SAL’s investment in advanced packaging and its goal to establish the Austrian Advanced Packaging Center A2PC reflect Europe’s ambition to secure a strong and reliable packaging supply chain Through the FOWLP line SAL collaborates globally with leading suppliers such as ERS electronic APIC Yamada and ClassOne bringing stateoftheart infrastructure to Europe and supporting SMEs startups and fabless companies with R Dprototyping and smallseries manufacturing capabilities Within this line one of the critical infrastructure elements identified was the need for a combined wafer warpage adjustment tool and thermal debonder Athermal debonding process was chosen for its flexibility to work with both laminated films and spinon adhesives and ERS was selected as a supplier due to its ability to support wafer warpage adjustment which is critical in FOWLP ERS electronic develops and manufactures thermal chucks for wafer probing and manufacturing equipment for advanced packaging Its headquarters can be found in Germering on the outskirts of Munich and last year the company expanded its footprint in Germany with an R Dand manufacturing facility as well as an Advanced Packaging competence center in Barbing close to Regensburg The company was among the pioneers of thermal debonding for Fan-Out Wafer-Level Packaging FOWLP more specifically the embedded Wafer Level Ball Grid Array eWLB technology introduced by Infineon ST Microelectronics and STATS ChipPAC in 2007 During FOWLP wafers are temporarily bonded to carriers with a tape to provide mechanical stability Debonding describes the process of separating a wafer from its temporary carrier after various process steps In thermal debonding the carrier is released by applying heat thereby loosening the tape and allowing for the safe and residuefree separation However temperature or mechanical stress can still result in wafer warpage which affects downstream processes and final device performance Recognizing this challenge early ERS developed a warpage adjustment technology addressing the mechanical strain caused by mismatched coefficients of thermal expansion between different materials Today ERS’s thermal debonding machines whether manual semiautomated or fully automated are used by research institutes chip manufacturers and OSATs around the world Beyond thermal methods ERS also recently introduced PhotoThermal Debonding a nextgeneration process particularly suited for highdensity devices requiring precise zerostress removal of temporary bonding layers Together these technologies enable flexible and scalable packaging process development across a wide range of materials and device architectures Although the thermal debonding tool for SAL’s FOWLP line has only recently been shipped and installed both partners see the collaboration as a meaningful step in the right direction to improve Europe’s advanced packaging competence SAL’s advanced packaging infrastructure is already connected to several European pilot lines within the framework of the Chips Act including FAMES WBG and PIXEUROPE as well as the Champ-ION pilot line for iontrap chips The debonding tool supplied by ERS will directly contribute to these initiatives once operational enabling process development and integration work that feeds into the European ecosystem To further expand Europe’s leadership role in the field of advanced packaging scalable pilot lines strong crossborder collaboration and alignment with EU roadmaps will all be required This partnership embodies all three ha ERS electronic Hall B1 Booth 357 Silicon Austria Labs Hall 2 Booth 461 The manual thermal debonding machine TRM 200 developed by ERS Image ERS The SAL site in Villach where the FOWLP line is currently being set up and the TRM machine from ERS will be used Image SAL