Packaging Materials in High-Performance Computing Applications

What drove electronics to what it is today is transistor scaling. But the emerging trend for computing, along with smartphones, IoTs and wearables and all other small systems as well as a new era in automotive electronics, requires a new electronics system. A new system technology frontier, enabled by scaling of system components and system interconnections, is emerging to address this need. This requires a next-generation set of materials to realize system functions such as digital, optical, thermal, RF, mm wave, power, etc. This paper reviews the key system component and packaging needs, advances and emerging materials for computing applications. Glass-based device and systems packaging for such systems are ideal for scaling because of its many advantages such as dimensional stability, low loss, large-area panel-scale processability, surface smoothness, matched CTE with silicon, chemical inertness, etc. High-performance computing is also driving the need for unprecedented material advances in low-permittivity and low-loss thin-film package substrate dielectrics with high temperature, high-power handling and ultra-high reliability. For power supply, a major leap in energy storage densities is achieved with ultrahigh density capacitors from nanoscale surfaces and nanomagnetic inductors. Such nanostructures also minimize power consumption by enhancing the power conversion efficiency. Nanocopper-based interconnections, without solders, and yet assembled at low temperature, below 200 °C drive the next wave of assembly manufacturing and reliability innovation.