Summary form only given. As ICs move towards deep sub-μmtechnology, over one hundred million transistors can be produced on asingle die. The challenge is how best to use these transistors incircuits and systems, as several new challenges are created by deepsub-μm technology. This article offers solutions to these challengeswith the key focus on integration. The discussion includes integrationof high Q inductors with RF chips using flip-chip assembly technologycombined with a high resistivity Si substrate and embedded high Qinductors, the use of chip-on-chip assembly to achieve memory and logicintegration, the use of embedded passives for simpler mixed signalcircuit design and mixed signal/mixed chip technology integration, andcombined flip-chip and high density substrate interconnection to supportIC I/O counts as high as 1024. The article also looks at manufacturingplatforms to achieve the degree of integration which is hard to achievewith single chip integration. The on-chip electrical environment ispreserved, and off-chip barriers are removed. The platforms includeflip-chip, high density interconnect Si substrates, embedded high Qpassives and flexible ball grid array packages, and are designed for lowcost/high volume manufacturing. The modules can be multiple chips withinterconnect only, multiple chips integrated with embedded passives orsingle chip integrated with passives, but the final module acts like asingle chip electrically. This set of platforms has been dubbedmicrosystems integration technology
展开▼
