Applied Materials and Besi have expanded their strategic partnership to accelerate next-generation packaging technologies for AIartificial intelligence scaling. Besi is joining Applied’s EPIC1. Equipment and Process Innovation and CommercializationApplied Materials uses this name for its new collaborative R&D center.2. Electronics, Photonics and Integrated CircuitsEPIC names the collaboration center unveiled by Applied Materials. Center as an Innovation Partner, extending a joint development effort that started in 2020 and initially focused on hybrid bonding.
The broadened scope targets higher-density, higher-bandwidth chip-to-chip and chip-to-package interconnects. The companies want to give mutual customers earlier access to co-optimized process and assembly solutions across the full advanced packaging flow, from wafer-level hybrid bonding to panel-scale integration.
The previous collaboration combined Applied Materials’ process capabilities in etch, planarization, deposition, wafer cleaning, metrology, inspection and particle defect control with Besi’s die placement, interconnect and assembly technology. That program produced Kinex, described as the industry’s first integrated die-to-wafer hybrid bonding system.
With Besi engineers now working alongside Applied teams at the EPIC1. Equipment and Process Innovation and CommercializationApplied Materials uses this name for its new collaborative R&D center.2. Electronics, Photonics and Integrated CircuitsEPIC names the collaboration center unveiled by Applied Materials. Center, the focus moves to broader interconnect and integration technologies. The stated technical priorities include next-generation 3D IC1. integrated circuitIC is the common term for an integrated circuit.2. ion chromatographyAnalytical method that separates and identifies the components of a mixture. scaling, logic and memory integration for AIartificial intelligence compute and memory architectures, TCB scaling, die-on-panel integration and photonics-related system development.
Applied describes advanced packaging as a materials-engineering challenge that now requires the same precision and cleanliness associated with front-end wafer fabrication. By placing the work in a front-end R&D environment, the companies aim to treat packaging as a connected flow rather than isolated steps, while the EPIC1. Equipment and Process Innovation and CommercializationApplied Materials uses this name for its new collaborative R&D center.2. Electronics, Photonics and Integrated CircuitsEPIC names the collaboration center unveiled by Applied Materials. Center is intended to shorten the path from early research to high-volume manufacturing.