Development of Seamless High Off-Chip Connectivity

Seamless High Off-Chip Connectivity (SHOCC) is a combined packaging interconnect and IC design philosophy related to the Composite Chip concept that is proposed as an alternate technology in the 1994 Semiconductor industry Association (SIA) National Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors. SHOCC takes a system level view of the chip, package and substrate requirements to shift the device fabrication paradigm from today's single die approach to a parallel manufacturing scheme which is expected to provide a system with better performance and lower cost. The technology elements required for the successful implementation of the SHOCC technology are: 1) High density interconnect technology, 2) Area array IC technology, 3) High density mating technology, 4) Testing of substrate and IC elements, and 5) System design. The Seamless High Off Chip Connectivity Consortium (SHOCCC), consisting of the Dow Chemical Company, Cray Research., Integrated Device Technology, Inc., MCNC, and the High Density Electronics Center (HiDEC) of the University of Arkansas is conducting a coordinated technology research and development project that will assess the potential value of SHOCC, define and develop the process technologies and materials needed to implement SHOCC, and demonstrate the value of SHOCC in real parts and systems. This paper describes the SHOCC concept and details the current status of the technology.