Reports, briefs and technical notes from Cools on semiconductor packaging technology and industry.
BriefThermal controlAdvanced packaging demands a fast reaction at the bond interface while allowing an ever lower thermal budget for the structures around it. The two demands conflict. Instead of heating and cooling the whole assembly, this brief sets out an approach that switches where energy couples in space and time, applied to two processes: HBM bonding and CPO integration.
Technical noteThermal controlHybrid bonding heats an entire wafer for 0.5 to 4 hours to complete the Cu bond, even though the heat is needed only within a few micrometres of the interface. This technical note sets out an approach that transmits 1500 nm light through the silicon substrate and generates heat for nanoseconds only in an absorbing layer behind the Cu pad, together with the reasoning behind the design.
BriefThermal controlIn March 2026 a Korean equipment maker disclosed plans to supply 2.5D thermocompression bonders to foundries in China and Taiwan. This brief marks the point at which back-end competition shifts from owning equipment to managing cycle time, and sets out the physical reason the bottleneck sits in the cooling segment after bonding.
ReportThermal controlAn industry report that breaks the advantage held by Korean suppliers into three layers and asks what each rests on, then examines what a shift in the underlying principle of bond-line cooling would mean.