The latest update of the International Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) was released in December. The Assembly and Packaging portions of the roadmap provide insights into industry needs for 2004 and years beyond. The first observation from this segment of the roadmap document is that of "increased awareness" surrounding the role for assembly and packaging and its impact on the final semiconductor product. In fact, the document crafters cite assembly and packaging as a competitive factor affecting operating frequency, power, complexity, reliability and cost. Further, they state that technology boundaries between semiconductor technology, packaging technology and system technologies have become blurred to the point that package designers cannot operate independent of chip and system designs, but rather must engage in concurrent engineering efforts.
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