Electronic packaging is a method of providing power and electrical distribution, mechanical protection and heat dissipation for integrated circuits. An integrated circuit (IC) package is a package that gives environmental protection to the IC chip while providing for different test methods and high-quality assembly at the next level of interconnection. Packaging is often considered the biggest bottleneck as it determines the system’s electrical performance, cost, size and reliability.
The major trend in the electronics industry today is to make products smarter, lighter, smaller, thinner, and faster, while at the same time making them more user- and environment-friendly, functional, powerful, reliable, robust, innovative, creative, and less expensive. Factors such as the feasibility of suitable substrates have to be considered when selecting a packaging alternative for the future. From this point of view, interconnection methods like flip-chip technology are becoming increasingly interesting.
Research has addressed the challenge of making the “smallest structures” possible. The activities were mostly basic-research oriented and has resulted in a multitude of processes and small structures. Increased emphasis is now being placed on aspects of the devices and their industrial applications. The emphasis has changed towards microsystems. This is being done in order to concentrate on functionality and performance rather than on small dimensions, as well as on the additional requirement of cover packaging, interconnection, and interfaces. Even today, much of the on-going research concerns silicon technology.