3D Systems Packaging Research Center

The Packaging Research Center at Georgia Tech is the only university in the academic world with a 300 mm cleanroom package and assembly facility capable of producing leading-edge multi-functional interposers and packages from design to prototypes. The labs were installed at a cost of more than $40M USD. It houses a 300mm substrate fabrication facility, assembly facility, materials research labs, electrical test asreas, and environmental testing facilities. The research labs serve to enable cutting-edge research in core areas of advanced packaging technologies encompassing the complete breadth from fundamental research to functional design and demonstration test vehicles to complete engineered systems. In addition, they serve a critical role in supporting hands-on-education, graduate research and industry research projects alike. Other fee-based, access-labs available for research on campus include research labs within the Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology of which the Packaging Research Center is a member. These labs consist of high frequency electrical testing in the Georgia Electronics Design Center, baseline materials growth processes in the Microelectronics Research Center, and physical inspection equipment in the Nanotechnology Research Center. Researchers within the Packaging Research Center consist of undergraduate students, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, faculty researchers, research engineers, and visiting industry engineers. Strategy To offer a continuum of labs from academic blue-sky research to industry- mentored applied research and development, as well as hands-on educational programs, the Center offers a comprehensive Lab-to-Fab capability unlike any other academic environment. By implementing a tiered approach to its laboratory structure that includes Fundamental, Small Scale Integration, and Large Area Integration test bed and prototype laboratories, the Center is able to effectively carry out its basic research, education, and technology-transfer missions. Laboratory Capabilities SOP Substrate & Systems Integration Lab This is a class 1,000 clean room facility maintained at 68F and relative humidity of 35%. This test bed and prototype research laboratory enables the processing of 300 mm substrates and interposers such as organic, glass, flex, ceramics and silicon with via formation and metallization, high density wiring (HDW), embedded and integral passive components. Process capabilities in this laboratory include substrate cleaning and preparation, polymer deposition of wet films, polymer deposition of dry films via roll or vacuum lamination, soft bake and final film curing, full field photolithographyfor feature development, and feature inspection and characterization, both electrolytic and electroless copper plating for build-up, gold, nickel and solder for surface finish, which enable metallization of substrates to the parameters defined in PRC's research program. Equipment includes: * Drawer Vacuum Laminator * Full Field Exposure System * Projection Lithography * Nitrogen Purge Ovens * Optical Microscopes * Stylus and Non-contact Surface Profilers * Chemical Processing Hoods * Electro/Electroless Plating System * Horizontal Spray Develop/Strip/Etch Systems * Dry/Cure Ovens * Large Area Spin Coaters * Large Area Spin/Rinse/Dry * Electrical Characterization Probe Station / 4 Point Measurement * Plasma Surface Preparation SOP Assembly & Reliability Lab The SOP Module Assembly Laboratory provides a class 100,000 environment enabling the research and process integration needed to assemble functional sub-system test vehicles. In this laboratory, substrates processed in the SOP Substrate Fabrication are assembled into a complete sub-system prior to environmental reliability, electrical and functional testing. Current process capabilities of this facility include precision stencil printing, thermocompression bonding, wirebonding, solder reflow, precision chip and component placement and bonding by various techniques, component and substrate inspection via X-ray and acoustical measurement, materials dispense, reliability testing, and material and process characterization. Tools in this lab include: * Semiautomatic Flip Chip Bonding * Automated Flip Chip Bonding * Thermal Bake Ovens * Xray Inspection * Optical Measurement of Features * Waterjet Cutting * BGA Reworks * Sonoscan CSAM * Semiautomated Screen Printing * Die Shear Testing * Wire Bonding * Liquid to Liquid Shock * Air to Air Shock and Cycling * HAST Testing * Nitrogen Atmosphere Solder Reflow ​* Warpage Characterization Industry Materials, Tools, Software and Process Service Support The PRC encourages industry participation in Infrastructure support. These include: * Infrastructure Partnership – on a consignment basis, and working with industry, the PRC Testbed and Prototype laboratories offer companies a mechanism to apply their materials, tools, and process services to create leading-edge, next-generation prototypes, enabling industry to understand the future needs and demonstrate their infrastructure capabilities. * By providing highly discounted purchases for unique critical equipment – in situations where budgets permit, the Center funds critical equipment purchases which can be included during the proposal submission process * Supply Chain Membership in Research Consortia - companies can offset a portion of membership costs with “In-kind” support of program critical materials, tools, software, and process services.