Global Citizenship: Chinese PCB Fabricators Will Remain an Important Part of the Supply Chain
Nolan’s Notes: The Interconnectedness of a Global Supply Chain
SMT Perspectives and Prospects: Warren Buffett’s Perpetual Wisdom, Part 1
TRUMPF, SCHMID Group Enable Cost-effective High-speed Chips
January 24, 2025 | SCHMID GroupEstimated reading time: 2 minutes
TRUMPF and the SCHMID Group are developing an innovative manufacturing process for the latest microchip generation for the global chip industry. This will enable manufacturers to increase the performance of high- end electronic components for smartphones, smart watches and AI applications. In the process known as advanced packaging, manufacturers combine individual chips on silicon components known as interposers. With the process from TRUMPF and SCHMID, these interposers can be made of glass in the future. “Advanced packaging with glass is a crucial future technology for the semiconductor industry. Glass is significantly cheaper than silicon. This will enable manufacturers to reduce production costs and make high-performance end devices much more affordable for customers,” says Christian Weddeling, Business Development Manager at TRUMPF, who is responsible for semiconductors. TRUMPF and SCHMID are developing a combined laser-etching process for advanced packaging with glass. The two companies use a special approach to wet chemistry that shortens process times by a factor of ten. “For this to work well, the laser and wet chemistry must be very well coordinated,” says Weddeling.
Close partnership between TRUMPF and SCHMID Group
The manufacturing process requires extreme care and precision. This is because the glass used is only between 100 micrometers and 1 millimeter thin. For comparison: 100 micrometers is about the thickness of a sheet of paper, 1 millimeter is about the thickness of a credit card. To create connections on the interposer, manufacturers have to drill holes through the glass, so-called through-glass vias (TGV). Manufacturers often have to create millions of holes in a panel to make the desired connections. “It is the combination of TRUMPF's laser technology and the SCHMID Group's expertise in etching processes for microchip production that enables efficient production,” says Christian Buchner, responsible for the photovoltaic division at SCHMID Group. An ultrashort pulse laser from TRUMPF selectively changes the structure of the glass, which is then treated with an etching solution. The desired holes are created at the specified locations and then filled with copper to form
the conductor tracks. “The laser and etching processes must be perfectly coordinated to create precise holes. Only through close cooperation between the two companies can we achieve the extreme levels of accuracy that are standard in the industry,” says Buchner.
Important future market for technology companies
According to the Boston Consulting Group, the market for advanced microchip packaging is expected to grow to more than 96 billion dollars by 2030. For the high-tech company TRUMPF and the SCHMID Group, a renowned partner of the chip industry, advanced packaging with the help of glass could also develop into an important future market.
Currently, applications in consumer electronics such as smartphones dominate the advanced packaging sector. In the future, applications in the field of artificial intelligence are likely to be the growth drivers.
Share on:
Testimonial
"We’re proud to call I-Connect007 a trusted partner. Their innovative approach and industry insight made our podcast collaboration a success by connecting us with the right audience and delivering real results."
Julia McCaffrey - NCAB GroupSuggested Items
Materials and Manufacturing for the AI Era: The Next PCB Frontier
08/08/2025 | Edy Yu, Chief Editor, ECIO, and the I-Connect007 Editorial TeamAI is pushing hardware to its limits, and the bottleneck isn’t design anymore—it’s materials. Next-generation AI servers aren’t just heavier on layer counts. They demand better materials to handle the speed, heat, and signal integrity requirements of 400G, 800G, and even 1.6T Ethernet systems. Many server motherboards are already 32–36 layers. For the next wave of 1.6T-capable boards, expect 40–50 layers, which must maintain high-frequency performance without degrading signal quality.
I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week
06/27/2025 | Nolan Johnson, I-Connect007While news outside our industry keeps our attention occupied, the big news inside the industry is the rechristening of IPC as the Global Electronics Association. My must-reads begins with Marcy LaRont’s exclusive and informative interview with Dr. John Mitchell, president and CEO of the Global Electronics Association. For designers, have we finally reached the point in time where autorouters will fulfill their potential?
The Chemical Connection: Through-glass Vias in Glass Substrates
06/24/2025 | Don Ball -- Column: The Chemical ConnectionThis month’s theme is vias and how best to ensure via quality and reliability. I don’t have much expertise in this process area or much to contribute that most of you don’t already know. However, I’ve recently become peripherally involved in a via technology that may be of more than academic interest to some of us. It entails putting vias in a material not usually associated with PCB manufacturing: through-glass vias (TGVs) in glass substrates.
Trouble in Your Tank: Causes of Plating Voids, Pre-electroless Copper
05/09/2025 | Michael Carano -- Column: Trouble in Your TankIn the business of printed circuit fabrication, yield-reducing and costly defects can easily catch even the most seasoned engineers and production personnel off guard. In this month’s column, I’ll investigate copper plating voids with their genesis in the pre-plating process steps.
Vuzix Acquires Advanced Waveguide R&D Facility in Silicon Valley to Strengthen Partnerships with Big Tech OEMs/ODMs
04/29/2025 | PRNewswireVuzix Corporation, a leading supplier of smart glasses, waveguides, and Augmented Reality (AR) technologies, today announced the acquisition of an advanced waveguide R&D facility in Milpitas, California.