How Silicon Die Become Chip Packages

 With the first Tech 101 on semiconductors, you got a high-level overview of how chips are made.

It begins when a bare wafer enters the fab, undergoes thousands of processing steps over several weeks and exits the fab as an astoundingly intricate piece of silicon.

That smart little shard can’t be used in a computer until it completes the second half of manufacturing, called assembly and test. In this process, one or more silicon die are mounted to a “package,” which provides protection from heat and elements, physical strength and connections to the computer.

Step 1: Chip Attach
A chip attach module (CAM) affixes die and any other required components (such as capacitors) to the substrate, which is the main body of the package. Substrates are typically organic material, although Intel plans to introduce glass substrates in the near future.

Fun fact: The CAM machine is the size of a car.

Step 3: Lid Attach
Time for the radiator hat: Machines apply thermal interface material onto the die and then place a heat spreader (known as a lid) on top. The lid helps dissipate heat.

Step 5: Test
In the last step before real-world work is applied, each chip undergoes electrical tests to ensure full functionality.

These tests isolate manufacturing defects and track performance to specifications.