The following material briefs provide a technology overivew as well as a market summary for various materials used in the production of semiconductor devices. The data presented in these documents are based on our Materials Market Data Subscription report.

SEMI Materials Brief: Semiconductor Anti-Reflective Coatings (PDF)
Extending performance of lithography and photoresists to meet shrinking device requirements is challenged by film properties on levels such as polysilicon, aluminum, and copper. Patterning devices during lithography exposure is difficult due to the highly reflective nature of these films, varying photoresist thickness, and device topography. In order to minimize these effects, materials called anti-reflective coatings (ARC) are applied to wafers either immediately before or after photoresist coating.

SEMI Materials Brief: Bonding Wire (PDF)
Wire bonding is used throughout the microelectronics industry as a means of interconnecting chips, substrates, and output pins. Wire forms the connections between the bond pad on the IC and the bonding fingers of the leadframe, plastic laminate, or ceramic substrate. The bonding method utilized is a function of the wire material and the substrate.

SEMI Materials Brief: Chemical Mechanical Planarization Materials (PDF)
The manufacture of a semiconductor device is essentially achieved by building alternating layers of metal and insulator materials on a silicon substrate. Prior to the 1990s Chemical Mechanical Planarization (CMP) was looked on as too "dirty" to be included in high-precision fabrication processes, since abrasion tends to create particles and the abrasives themselves are not without impurities. However, given the small size and complexity of today’s advanced semiconductor devices, it is essential that these layers be extremely flat for lithographic processing. In order to achieve the required flatness, CMP is utilized

SEMI Materials Brief: Semiconductor Photoresists Developers (PDF)
Aqueous or water-based developers are used in the lithography process to pattern photoresist films immediately after the exposure process. For positive photoresists, the developer removes film in the exposed wafer regions to produce device patterns. For negative photoresists, the developer removes film in the unexposed wafer regions to produce device patterns.

SEMI Materials Brief: Organic Substrates (PDF)
In the past decade, high volume IC packaging has shifted from the era of ceramic packages to organic substrate-based packages, especially the plastic ball grid array (PBGA). The shift from ceramic to laminate substrates for packaging central processing unit (CPU) microprocessors facilitated this migration to organic substrates by providing a volume application that enabled the technology to mature faster. Flex circuit or tape substrates are a niche market for large die packaging, but are also used in volume for chip scale packages (CSPs) including some stacked die packages. Increasingly many of the new CSP designs are using a rigid laminate substrate rather than flex circuit.

SEMI Materials Brief: Die Attach Materials (PDF)
Die attach materials provide the mechanical and thermal connection between the semiconductor device and the package. These materials are used in paste, tape or solder form. This market brief covers paste and tape materials only.

SEMI Materials Brief: Encapsulant Materials (PDF)
Encapsulant materials are polymeric-based materials used to provide mechanical and environmental protection of a semiconductor device. Mold compounds, underfill, and liquid encapsulants fall into this category. At the most basic level, these materials are formulated using a combination of raw materials: organic resins, fillers, catalysts, and a pigment or coloration. Additives include flame retardants, adhesion promoters, mold release materials, ion traps, and stress relievers.

SEMI Materials Brief: Leadframes (PDF)
A leadframe consists of a die mounting paddle and lead fingers. The die paddle serves primarily to mechanically support the die during package manufacture. The lead fingers connect the die to the circuitry external to the package.