LYON, FRANCE – Fan-in wafer-level packaging is experiencing continuous growth and attracting new applications, a new research report says, due to "indisputable benefits" linked to cost and form factor.

Although seemingly out of the spotlight, fan-in WLP remains a highly important and constant presence with unmatchable advantages in cost and form factors, says Yole Developpement. Fan-in WLP holds 16% of the total number of packages, while serving 4.4% of the wafer market at only 1.5% of the total semiconductor revenue, the research firm says.

“Fan-in WLP is forecasted to continue a stable growth, with a market of $5.3B in 2014 and a CAGR between 2014 and 2020 of 7%”, explains Andrej Ivankovic, technology and market analyst in the firm's Advanced Packaging and Semiconductor Manufacturing team. "The total wafer count in 300mm equivalent wafers is reaching 4 million, a projected CAGR of 8%, while the unit number is 36 billion, a projected CAGR of 9%.”

Throughout the past few years, the share of MEMS and CMOS image sensors has been increasing compared to analog, mixed signal and digital ICs and now account for more than 50% of the total revenue, according to the report titled “Fan-in Wafer Level Packaging: Market & Technology Trends.” 

 The leading applications by wafer demand in the analog/mixed signal/digital domain are BT+WiFi+FM combos and RF transceivers followed by PMU, audio/video codecs, DC/DC converters, ESD/EMI IPD. MEMS devices are led by digital compasses, RF filters, accelerometers and gyroscopes. CMOS image sensors are strongly second place by overall fan-in application rankings. In total 41 applications and their evolution are analyzed in more depth within Yole’s report. Yole’s data include breakdowns of MEMS, CMOS image sensors and analog, mixed signal and digital devices. From a technology viewpoint, innovation continues in order to extend fan-in WLP capability, as summarized in Yole’s figure above.

Fan-in WLP is forecasted to maintain a stable growth trajectory; from a market of $5.3B in 2014 the CAGR between 2014 and 2020 is projected to be 7%.  The sector is poised to grow faster than fan-out WLP, based on a separate report from Yole issued last month.

 “Current bump pitch in high volume is mostly at 0.4mm with 0.35mm already present as well. Particular effort is being made to increase the die size and I/O count” says Santosh Kumar, senior technology and market research analyst. Max I/O count in high volume is heading above 200 and announcements have been made for high volume production up to 800 I/Os. The die size sweet spot ranges up to 7mm x 7mm, with 8mm x 8mm and 9mm x 9mm qualified and ready.

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