Tight bond

Advanced adhesive dry-film materials will help drive production of the next generation of miniature electronic devices, according to an international consortium of companies developing the technology.

The materials are aimed at the emerging use of wafer-level packaging (WLP) and 3D/through-silicon via (TSV) packaging production processes in the semiconductor industry. Both of these technologies are tipped to see strong growth over the coming years, with some estimates putting the global market for the two at $600m (£420m) by 2013 and more than $1bn just a few years after that. Some analysts expect 3D/TSV wafers to make up 6 per cent of the entire semiconductor industry by 2015.

Packaging — enclosing and interconnecting the chip and any other devices into a complete assembly — is a crucial element of the manufacturing process. WLP and 3D/TSV are designed to enable the production of the smaller, more powerful and more efficient semiconductor packages needed to help keep the electronics industry on course to meet Moore's Law of continually increasing processing power.