Stage 4: Back-end Manufacturing

Back-end manufacturing turns a into as many as tens of thousands of ready-to-use chips. The process consists of the steps listed below.

Dicing: the fabricated wafer is cut into individual dies
Die attach: is mounted onto a substrate base—see sidebar below to learn more about conventional vs. advanced packaging.
Bonding: Electrical connections are made between the die(s) and external connectors.
Encapsulation: the packaged die(s) is sealed in a protective casing resulting in a chip.
Testing: Chips are inspected to ensure that the packaged chip performs correctly.

The result is a fully-tested chip that is ready for integration into a circuit in a wide-range of goods—e.g., computers, phones, cars, Etc.

Sidebar: Conventional vs. advanced packaging

Conventional packaging refers to a series of processes that are technologically mature. Conventional packaging refers to packaging approaches where a die is individually packaged. These approaches include wire-bonding and flip-chip processes.

Advanced packaging refers to a series emerging processes of varying degrees of technological maturity. These processes allow for multiple dies to be packaged together to enhance performance and functionality while shrinking the device’s footprint. Advanced packaging processes include: 2.5D and 3D stacking, fan-out wafer-level packaging, and system-in-package.

How are semiconductors made?