One of the caveats of TSMC's manufacturing in the U.S. is that all wafers processed at Fab 21 in Arizona are shipped back to Taiwan for dicing, testing, and packaging, which is why processors fabbed in Arizona are not 100% U.S.-made. However, suppose the rumor published by Taiwan-based Liberty Times is correct. In that case, TSMC is repurposing land designated initially for one of its Fab 21 modules for its advanced packaging facility, thus accelerating its packaging capability in the U.S. and making 'all American TSMC chips' a reality before 2030.

Based on the latest expansion plan for the Arizona site announced in March, TSMC plans to build six Fab 21 modules, two advanced packaging facilities, and an R&D center to work on the foundry's existing technologies and tailor them for specific customers. Liberty Times claims that TSMC now intends to build its advanced packaging facility on the place originally intended for the Fab 21 phase 6. If construction proceeds according to the alleged plan, tool move-in could begin before the end of 2027, enabling the plant to enter a risk production phase shortly thereafter.

Even though modern advanced packaging facilities use cleanrooms and many tools that were used for chipmaking years ago, they are very different from advanced semiconductor production facilities, such as TSMC's Fab 21. Front-end fabs require huge, hyper-clean, multi-story cleanrooms to support atomic-scale patterning. In contrast, advanced packaging needs much smaller, lower-class spaces suitable for micron-scale bonding and RDL processes. Even state-of-the-art packaging facilities feature significantly smaller ISO 5-7 class cleanrooms compared to ISO 3-4 class cleanrooms in advanced fabs. Also, advanced packaging fabs require much lower chemical purity and use less power (unless we are talking about a massive facility, though).

One of the caveats of TSMC's manufacturing in the U.S. is that all wafers processed at Fab 21 in Arizona are shipped back to Taiwan for dicing, testing, and packaging, which is why processors fabbed in Arizona are not 100% U.S.-made. However, suppose the rumor published by Taiwan-based Liberty Times is correct. In that case, TSMC is repurposing land designated initially for one of its Fab 21 modules for its advanced packaging facility, thus accelerating its packaging capability in the U.S. and making 'all American TSMC chips' a reality before 2030.

Based on the latest expansion plan for the Arizona site announced in March, TSMC plans to build six Fab 21 modules, two advanced packaging facilities, and an R&D center to work on the foundry's existing technologies and tailor them for specific customers. Liberty Times claims that TSMC now intends to build its advanced packaging facility on the place originally intended for the Fab 21 phase 6. If construction proceeds according to the alleged plan, tool move-in could begin before the end of 2027, enabling the plant to enter a risk production phase shortly thereafter.

Even though modern advanced packaging facilities use cleanrooms and many tools that were used for chipmaking years ago, they are very different from advanced semiconductor production facilities, such as TSMC's Fab 21. Front-end fabs require huge, hyper-clean, multi-story cleanrooms to support atomic-scale patterning. In contrast, advanced packaging needs much smaller, lower-class spaces suitable for micron-scale bonding and RDL processes. Even state-of-the-art packaging facilities feature significantly smaller ISO 5-7 class cleanrooms compared to ISO 3-4 class cleanrooms in advanced fabs. Also, advanced packaging fabs require much lower chemical purity and use less power (unless we are talking about a massive facility, though).

By: DocMemory
Copyright © 2023 CST, Inc. All Rights Reserved