After powering five decades of innovation, Moore\u2019s Law is faltering. Here\u2019s how the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is helping the industry move forward.
\nAs transistor scaling reaches its physical limits, industries are now faced with several key challenges in packaging, from mechanical stress and distortion to electrical interference, environmental effects, and failure mechanisms.<\/p>\n
Polymer-based packaging materials, once viewed as little more than a means to glue or encase the chip, have now emerged as important factors for reliability, performance, and cost. The industry increasingly recognizes the need for reliable methods to characterize and predict material behavior, standardized benchmarks to correlate polymer performance, and effective solutions to mitigate costly failures.<\/p>\n
A new perspective article from NIST and collaborators highlights this critical but often underrated piece of the semiconductor revolution: the polymer-based \u201csoft\u201d materials that hold advanced chips together.<\/p>\n
Polymers\u2014such as epoxies, silicones, and polyimides\u2014encapsulate chips, connect them to circuit boards, and keep them running reliably. As industry shifts toward 3D heterogeneous integration, where multiple chips are stacked or linked in three dimensions, the demands on these materials are rapidly escalating.<\/p>\n
Unlike metals or ceramics, polymers are time- and temperature-sensitive, absorbing moisture and changing shape under stress. These behaviors can cause chips to warp, signals to degrade, or connections to fail over years of operation. Traditional materials, many of which have not changed much in decades, now face new performance demands in applications like 5G\/6G communications, artificial intelligence, and high-performance computing.<\/p>\n
\u201cPolymer science is fascinating to polymer scientists, but that fundamental knowledge is often lacking in the packaging world,\u201d said Ran Tao, lead author of the paper. \u201cThose fundamentals are valuable and can help guide industrial decision-making.\u201d<\/p>\n
The article highlights new measurement techniques being developed at NIST, from advanced rheology and spectroscopy to stress measurements. These tools help track how polymers cure, shrink, and deform during manufacturing\u2014factors that directly impact device reliability.
\nAs industry pushes toward digital twins and predictive design, accurate measurements become indispensable. \u201cModeling without metrology is imagination,\u201d stated co-author William Chen, Chair of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers\u2019s Heterogenous Integration Roadmap for semiconductors.<\/p>\n
NIST is also pioneering research-grade test materials (RGTMs): open, nonproprietary polymer systems that serve as benchmarks. Unlike commercial \u201cblack box\u201d materials, RGTMs allow researchers across industry, academia, and government to compare results, improve reproducibility, and feed reliable data into computer models.<\/p>\n
\u201cRGTMs are key,\u201d said Christopher Soles, NIST materials scientist and co-project leader. \u201cBy providing shared, transparent materials, we can accelerate innovation across the entire ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n
This perspective grew out of a NIST-organized workshop at the 2024 Electronics Packaging Symposium, where experts from industry, universities, and government labs agreed on key priorities. These include rebuilding U.S.-based supply chains for packaging materials, creating shared databases of material properties, and advancing measurement standards.<\/p>\n
With some new packaging materials taking 10 to 25 years to reach production, the authors stress that early, collaborative work is essential. By bridging the gap between polymer science and semiconductor engineering, the U.S. can accelerate innovation while strengthening supply chain resilience.<\/p>\n
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