As my country’s packaging and testing companies accelerate their growth through international mergers and acquisitions and R&D innovation, and the global packaging and testing market continues to pick up, my country’s packaging and testing industry has achieved rapid development. According to data from the China Semiconductor Association, the mainland packaging and testing market has grown from 103.4 billion yuan in 2012 to 219.6 billion yuan in 2018. In the 2019 packaging and testing market, mainland China accounted for 28%, second only to Taiwan. However, it should also be noted that in the field of advanced packaging, there is still a big gap between Chinese companies and international leaders, and as wafer and IDM manufacturers such as TSMC and Samsung continue to increase the number of advanced packaging, the competition for advanced packaging technology will become more intense. . Chinese enterprises need advanced packaging for card positions, seize market opportunities, enhance their competitiveness in the mid-to-high-end market and their international voice, and promote the high-quality and high-end development of my country's packaging and testing industry.
Vendors compete for card slot advanced packaging
To meet the needs of miniaturization, multi-function, and shorten development cycle of electronic components, the proportion of advanced packaging in the semiconductor industry has steadily increased. Yole predicts that from 2018 to 2024, the compound annual growth rate of the advanced packaging market will be 8%, and it is expected to reach around US$44 billion in 2024. In the same period, the compound annual growth rate of the traditional packaging market is only 2.4%. In order to seize the technological high ground, major packaging and testing plants, fabs, and IDMs in the world are stepping up the layout of advanced packaging.
As early as 2015, Changjiang Electronics Technology won Apple's SiP (System in Package) module order. In recent years, my country has made a series of achievements in the field of SiP packaging. Changjiang Electronics Technology successfully passed the certification of the world's leading customers in April 2020, realizing the mass production of double-sided packaging SiP products. Tongfu Microelectronics introduced SiP packaging solutions with 8, 9, and 10 pins respectively. Tianshui Huatian already has SiP packaging solutions based on FOWLP, FC, WB and other interconnection methods.
Industry expert Mo Dakang pointed out to China Electronics News that integration is a key aspect of "beyond Moore's Law", and SiP can achieve higher integration without relying solely on semiconductor process scaling.
"SiP no longer pays attention to the performance increase and power consumption reduction brought by Moore's Law, but starts from market demand to realize the characteristics of light, thin, short, multifunctional, low power consumption of terminal electronic products. In mobile devices With the rise of lightweight products such as wearable devices, the importance of SiP has become increasingly apparent." Mo Dakang said.
From the perspective of technology research and development, SiP involves mostly technologies already available in packaging factories, but the packaging structure that integrates a variety of chips puts forward higher requirements for manufacturers' machine ratios and management capabilities.
"In SiP packaging technology, there may be dozens of bare chips in a package. If a few cents of bare chips are broken, dozens of bare chips will be wasted, which is very challenging for manufacturers. Management capabilities. At the same time, manufacturers need to arrange production lines around SiP requirements, or adjust the original machine ratios, and ensure the efficiency of machine utilization." Tang Weiwei, vice president of Moore Elite and chairman of Suxin Microelectronics, told "China The electronic newspaper said.
In addition to system-level packaging, wafer-level packaging and 3D packaging are also the main trends in the development of the packaging industry. Yole statistics show that in 2018, FLIP-CHIP technology accounted for more than 80% of the entire advanced packaging market share, and it is expected that by 2024, the FLIP-CHIP share will drop to about 70%. In the next five years, the fastest growing technologies in the advanced packaging market are expected to be fan-out packaging and through silicon vias.
The importance of advanced packaging to the continuation of the life cycle of Moore's Law has also attracted the attention of wafer manufacturers and IDM manufacturers. The relevant person in charge of CINNO Rearch pointed out to the reporter of "China Electronics News" that with the development of higher and higher levels of heterogeneous high-end packaging technology in the back end, packaging is bound to be integrated into the front end process to provide customers with the highest economic benefits of "one-stop" This is the advantage of advanced packaging for wafer manufacturers.
Gu Wenjun, the chief analyst of Xinmou Research, pointed out to the reporter of China Electronics News that wafer-level packaging and 3D packaging are the main packaging trends in the future. Wafer foundries such as TSMC and SMIC and IDMs such as Samsung are involved in advanced The packaging business will have a huge impact on the entire packaging industry.Since TSMC introduced CoWoS (wafer-on-substrate packaging) as a high-end advanced packaging platform for heterogeneous integrated silicon interfaces, it has gone from InFO (integrated fan-out technology) to SoIC (system on integrated chip), and then to 3D multi-stack (MUST) System integration technology and 3D MUST-in-MUST (3D-mim fan-out package) have carried out a series of innovations. Samsung introduced FOPLP (Fan Out Panel Level Packaging) technology, Intel introduced Foveros, a 3D stacked packaging solution for logic chips, and SMIC, a joint venture established by SMIC and Changjiang Electronics Technology, released ultra-wideband dual-polarized 5G mm Wave antenna chip wafer-level integrated package SmartAiP. In the future, fabs and IDM will become important forces to promote the penetration of advanced packaging in the high-end market.
Emerging technologies bring market growth
Due to the impact of the epidemic on the world economy, the downstream end market demand is sluggish, the global industrial chain supply chain has been blocked, and the market research agency has The forecast of revenue has been adjusted downward to varying degrees. However, emerging technologies represented by 5G, AI, and automotive electronics will drive the intelligent, digital, and informatized transformation of various industries, and the demand for electronic components will also rise sharply, bringing a broad market for China's semiconductor industry Opportunities, and form the market increment of the packaging industry.
Gu Wenjun pointed out to reporters that 5G, high-performance computing, automotive electronics, and CIS are important driving forces for the growth of the packaging industry.
In terms of 5G, as the number of 5G chip antennas has increased sharply and the available area remains the same, AiP packaging has become an ideal solution for manufacturers. AiP mainly uses SiP or PoP structures, and RF chips are placed in the package to achieve reduced size, The purpose of reducing the transmission distance and reducing signal transmission loss.
"The demand for advanced packaging technology is increasing day by day, but the production capacity has not kept up. This is a market opportunity for the current packaging and testing industry. The development of SiP technology is a good development opportunity for my country's packaging companies." Gu Wenjun said.
In terms of high-performance computing, high-performance computers, high-frequency, high-speed, high-reliability, low-latency, micro-system integration and other requirements have promoted advanced packaging such as AiP, FC, 2.5D and 3D, fan-in and fan-out packaging Application of technology. At the same time, automotive electronics and CIS will also play a role in driving the packaging industry.
"Compared with traditional cars, new energy vehicles require more electronic devices. The relevant market driven by automotive electronics is an important opportunity for the development of packaging and testing." Gu Wenjun said, "In terms of CIS, mobile phones have been used in the past few years. Photographing is the largest end-user market. In the next five years, automotive electronics, medical care, and security will also inject development momentum into CIS and form an increase in the market for packaging and testing business.”
Tang Weiwei said, transportation, construction, lighting In the process of intelligent transformation of traditional industries such as security, security, and home furnishing, the demand for electronic components will greatly increase, bringing a broad market space for the packaging and testing industry. Take building lighting as an example. The traditional lamp tube consumes electricity and is not smart. If it is replaced with LED lighting and controlled by a server to achieve smart sensing, power consumption can be greatly reduced.
"One square meter of building lighting requires more than 2,000 small LED chips. Similarly, in the future, sockets will also be automatically powered off through sensor chips, plus the monitoring and security systems in the building. A large number of chips are needed. In smart homes, voice control chips and supporting radio frequency and connection chips can now see real demand, and the volume is very fast." Tang Weiwei said.
From the low end of the value chain to the high end
Although the market share of the packaging and testing industry in mainland China has reached 28%, and there are three companies: Changdian Technology, Tongfu Microelectronics, and Huatian Technology Ranked among the top ten packaging and testing companies in the world. However, in the mid-to-high-end market, the voice of my country's packaging companies needs to be improved, and they need to continue to tackle key problems, master advanced packaging technology, do a good job in talent reserves, industrial ecological construction, and improve market response capabilities.
Gu Wenjun said that there are still many challenges in China’s packaging industry: first, the gap with international manufacturers in advanced packaging technology needs to be further narrowed; second, the completeness of the industrial chain needs to be improved and needs to be supplemented and strengthened. Resist, electroplating solution, powder resin and other materials andShortcomings and weaknesses in the field of manufacturing equipment; third, the supply of talents is in short supply; fourth, advanced packaging technologies such as 3D IC stacking and Fan-out packaging are the fastest-growing advanced packaging platforms, and it is necessary to strengthen the development of advanced packaging platforms and technologies. Layout; Fifth, the extension of the supply chain has led to intensified competition in the packaging and testing industry, terminal manufacturers have entered IC design, and wafer cross-border packaging has increasingly become a trend.
Mo Dakang said that China's semiconductor packaging industry must grasp both ends. First, we must vigorously develop advanced technology and enter the high-end market.
"If you only focus on the low-end market and launch low-value-added product technologies, it will be difficult for companies to form scale and become stronger and bigger. Chinese packaging companies must strengthen R&D and investment, actively develop advanced technologies, and combine huge To apply the market, take a development path featuring products. Technologies such as SiP and Chiplet are key research and development directions." Mo Dakang said.
At the same time, China's semiconductor packaging industry needs to further enhance its competitiveness and international voice.
"In advanced packaging technology, since most of the technologies have been developed in the past 10 years, practitioners from all countries are almost on the same starting line. We must build confidence, concentrate resources, work hard, collect outstanding talents, and strengthen cooperation. Open a new path in global packaging." Mo Dakang said.
Gu Wenjun pointed out that my country's packaging and testing industry must enhance its competitiveness in four aspects. First, under the current situation, what is most needed is strategic determination. We must dare to adhere to effective practices that have been proven in practice, and improve them to avoid exercise and intermittent research. The second is that we cannot deal with the "short board" problem in isolation and passively. We must have a systematic plan to form core competitiveness through the improvement of overall capabilities and the establishment of local advantages. The third is that innovation is not "innovation by oneself", and open cooperation must be adhered to. We must give full play to the potential of the Chinese market, open up new spaces, master core technologies, and move from the low end of the value chain to the high end in the global industrial division of labor. Fourth, in the development of the integrated circuit industry, the "three-chain integration" of the industrial chain, the innovation chain, and the financial chain is the only way to go, which requires more professional investment and financing platforms and more relaxed credit policy support.
Tang Weiwei said that China’s packaging and testing industry must first start with talent training to attract high-end talents to the packaging and testing industry; at the same time, it is necessary to improve the completeness of the industry chain and strengthen the key IP, materials, and equipment. R&D research, so that the packaging and testing industry can cooperate with the upstream links to increase the speed of response to market demand; in addition, packaging and testing companies must have the determination to study with great concentration and the courage to keep up with the market, and they must do a good job in technology accumulation and Production capacity planning to obtain more development opportunities.
