The Rôle of the Semiconductor Industry in Hybrid Technology—A Tutorial

Whatever one may feel is the importance of particular interconnection and assembly technologies with which one is associated, Thin Film or Thick Film Hybrid, PCB Through Hole, Surface Mounting, etc., the driving force in electronics is the high degree of low cost functionality brought by semiconductor technology. However, semiconductor science cannot provide systems solutions on its own and needs to be combined with suitable interconnection and assembly technologies to bring its potential processing power to fulfilment. Hybrid technology holds a key role in the use of silicon in overall system integration. On hybrid substrates semiconductors can be applied in any of the forms available, from bare dice to encapsulated, tested and burnt‐in complex functions in LSI. Over the years hybrids have developed, needing semiconductors as the active elements in providing functional modules. The relationship between the technologies has been close but not always in perfect harmony at the commercial interfaces. The first part of this paper reviews development of semiconductors in relation to the forms of packaging available for application in hybrid assembly including the emergent means being adopted to tackle the problems of ever increasing lead counts that will be with us for some time until the dream of total self‐sufficiency on silicon becomes a reality. The second part of the paper reviews silicon design options with the emphasis on the relevance of combining silicon implementation with hybrid methods.