The questions of Glass substrate

Q1: What is a glass substrate? Glass substrate is the next generation chip substrate, and its core material is made of glass. The key technology for glass substrate packaging is TGV. The glass substrate industry chain includes production, raw materials, equipment, technology, packaging, testing, and application, with the upstream being production, raw materials, and equipment. Due to its unique physical and chemical properties, glass substrates have shown great potential in the application field of electronic component materials.

Q2: What are the advantages and disadvantages of glass substrates compared with traditional silicon wafers and PCB language learning platforms? Compared with CoWoS-S packaging, the advantages of glass substrate packaging technology can be expanded from four aspects: substrate materials, interposers, key technologies, and costs. Compared with organic substrates, glass substrates can achieve: (1) ultra-low flatness (2) good thermal stability and mechanical stability (3) higher interconnection density (4) pattern deformation can be reduced by 50%.

However, the current immature technology and low market acceptance are the two major challenges facing glass substrates.

Q3: What is the market space and competitive landscape of the glass substrate industry? The global IC packaging substrate market is developing rapidly, and it is expected to reach US$31.54 billion in 2029. Glass substrates are the latest trend, and the penetration rate is expected to reach more than 50% within 5 years. The global glass substrate market has broad space and is expected to grow to US$11.3 billion in 2031. The scale of China's glass substrate market continues to expand, reaching 33.3 billion yuan in 2023. Corning occupies a dominant position in the global market, with a share of 48%. Domestic manufacturers have significant cost advantages, and the localization of glass substrates has accelerated, with huge market space. Q4: Why are giants pushing glass substrates at the current node? In high-end chips, organic substrates will reach their capacity limits in the next few years. Taking Intel as an example, Intel will produce SiP for data centers, with dozens of tiles, power consumption may be as high as kilowatts and the cost is quite high. In pursuit of the limit of Moore's Law, Intel, Samsung, Nvidia, TSMC and other major manufacturers have entered the glass substrate market. Intel took the lead in launching glass substrates for advanced packaging, promoting the progress of Moore's Law. Samsung regards glass substrates as the future of chip packaging and has formed a "legion" to increase the research and development of glass substrates. Nvidia's GB200 may use glass substrates and plans to put them into production. TSMC has set up a special team to explore FOPLP technology and invested heavily in glass substrate research and development.

Q5: Which links in the glass substrate industry chain are expected to benefit? The upstream raw materials, production, and equipment links of the glass substrate industry chain are expected to benefit. In the production link, domestic glass substrate manufacturers are expected to occupy a place in the high-generation field. In the drilling equipment link, some domestic Chinese companies have begun to develop LIDE technology, which is expected to achieve a breakthrough in drilling equipment technology; in the development equipment link, with the rapid development of the electronic information industry and the demand for glass substrates, the demand for laser direct imaging equipment continues to grow; in the electroplating equipment link, the glass substrate technology continues to mature, bringing huge business opportunities for the upgrade of electroplating equipment.

What's glass substrate ?

The chip substrate is the medium where the chip die is located. It is the protagonist of the last step of chip packaging. The glass substrate is the next-generation substrate. While ensuring the stability of the chip structure, the substrate also transmits the signal from the chip die to the package. Their excellent mechanical stability and higher interconnection density will help create high-performance chip packages. Since the 1970s, chip substrate materials have undergone two iterations. At first, the chip was fixed with a lead frame. In the 1990s, ceramic substrates replaced the lead frame. Now the most common is the organic material substrate, and the glass substrate is the next-generation substrate. The glass substrate is a substrate made of glass as the core material. The glass substrate replaces the organic material in the organic package with glass. It does not mean that the entire substrate is replaced with glass, but the core material of the substrate will be made of glass. Simply put, it is to drill holes, fill and interconnect up and down on the glass, and use glass as the floor to build a high-rise building of integrated circuits.

Glass substrate packaging technology has improved CoWoS-S packaging and will challenge the dominance of current semiconductor packaging technology. TSMC's 2.5D chip packaging technology CoWoS-S connects the chip to the silicon adapter and then connects the stacked chip to the substrate to achieve a three-dimensional packaging structure of chip-adapter-substrate. Glass substrate packaging technology has improved it and will challenge the dominance of current semiconductor packaging technology. (Language learning platform 1) Substrate material: changed from FC-BGA carrier to glass core substrate. (2) Interposer: changed from silicon to glass substrate. (3) Key technology: changed from through silicon via TSV to through glass via TGV.

Key technology of glass substrate

The key technology of glass substrate packaging is TGV. TGV (Through Glass Via) technology is to make tiny vertical through-holes on the glass substrate and fill the through-holes with conductive materials to achieve electrical connections between different layers. TGV uses high-quality borosilicate glass and quartz glass as the substrate, and achieves 3D interconnection through seed layer sputtering, electroplating filling, chemical mechanical planarization, RDL rewiring, and bump process. It is regarded as the key technology for the next generation of advanced packaging integration. TSV (Through Silicon Via) technology is to punch holes in the silicon interposer. TGV is a continuation of TSV. Both are key technologies for three-dimensional integration and play an important role in achieving higher density interconnection, improving performance and reducing power consumption. At present, TGV technology has been advanced to the third generation, with a minimum aperture of less than 5 microns. The third-generation TGV technology uses precise laser induction and wet process, which has ultra-high precision three-dimensional processing capabilities - the minimum aperture is less than 5 microns and the minimum pitch is 6 microns. It can be through-hole metallization, surface wiring, and three-dimensional stacking, and has flexible and extensive material selection. It uses a low-power special laser to process glass, not to directly punch a hole, but to make it undergo a photochemical reaction. This eliminates strict restrictions on material selection and expands application scenarios.

The glass substrate industry chain includes production, raw materials, equipment, technology, packaging, testing, and application. The upstream is the production, raw materials, and equipment links, the midstream is the technology, packaging, and testing links, and the downstream is the application link.

The upstream of the glass substrate industry chain is production, raw materials, and equipment. Glass substrate manufacturing requires raw materials such as silica sand, soda ash, limestone, boric acid, and alumina; the glass substrate production process includes high-temperature melting, homogenization, molding, processing, cleaning inspection, and packaging; glass through-hole equipment includes drilling, electroplating, sputtering, and developing equipment. Due to its unique physical and chemical properties, glass substrates have shown great potential in the application field of electronic component materials. Glass substrates are expected to be used in scenarios that require high computing power and low latency, such as real-time data processing for self-driving cars. Its high temperature resistance also makes it suitable for use in fields such as industrial Internet of Things and edge computing that have strict requirements on temperature tolerance. However, glass materials have limitations in mechanical properties and impact resistance, so their application in high-demand environments such as vehicles is still limited.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of glass substrates compared with traditional silicon wafers and PCBs?

Compared with CoWoS-S packaging, the advantages of glass substrate packaging technology can be expanded from four aspects: substrate material, interposer, key technology, and cost.

(1) Material: glass substrate encapsulated with resin

Glass is the substrate material and has significant advantages in chip alignment and interconnection. It is also possible to introduce large packaging substrates exceeding 100x100mm, allowing more chips to be packaged, improving performance and integration Spend.

(2) Interposer: Glass substrate packaging can be directly installed without an interposer. Language learning platform SoC and HBM chips make it possible to install more chips at a lower height.

(3) Key technologies:

The TGV process is simpler and more efficient than TSV. A combination of mechanical, laser or etching methods can be used to drill glass holes in batches. Due to the insulating properties of glass itself, TGV does not need to precipitate

The edge layer only needs to be deposited with an adhesion layer and a seed layer to perform plating and filling. (4) Cost: Glass substrate packaging can be mass-produced through glass panel-level processes, which has cost advantages.

However, glass substrate packaging may still not be able to completely replace CoWoS-S or EMIB technology at the highest levels of demand.

Glass substrates have a number of advantages over traditional PCBs using organic substrates:

(1) Ultra-low flatness. This improves the depth of focus of photolithography and the good dimensional stability of interconnections.

(2) Good thermal and mechanical stability. This allows for higher temperatures and is more resilient in data center applications.

(3) This allows for higher interconnection density. This makes it possible to increase interconnection density tenfold, which is critical for next-generation SiP power and signal transmission.

(4) This reduces pattern deformation by 50%. This improves the depth of focus of photolithography and ensures more precise and accurate semiconductor manufacturing. The two major challenges currently facing glass substrates are technological immaturity and low market acceptance. The high hardness and brittleness of glass substrates increase the difficulty of processing. In addition, the complex production process of glass substrates requires high-precision processes and equipment, which places extremely high technical requirements. At the same time, as a new thing, the market acceptance of glass substrates needs to be improved. Relevant industry standards and technical specifications have not yet been perfected, which may affect their promotion and application.

Compared with through silicon vias (TSV), the advantages of through glass vias (TGV) are mainly reflected in the following aspects:

(1) Low cost: large-size ultra-thin panel glass is easy to obtain, and no insulating layer needs to be deposited. The production cost of glass adapters is only about 1/8 of that of silicon-based adapters. The production of through silicon vias uses silicon etching technology, followed by oxidation of the insulating layer and thin wafer holding technology. Language learning platform

(2) Excellent high-frequency electrical properties: glass is an insulator material with a dielectric constant of only about 1/3 of silicon, and a loss factor 2 to 3 orders of magnitude lower than silicon, which greatly reduces substrate loss and parasitic effects, effectively improving the integrity of the transmitted signal. Silicon is a semiconductor material. When the transmission line transmits a signal, the signal has a strong electromagnetic coupling effect with the substrate material, eddy currents are generated in the substrate, and the signal integrity is poor.

(3) Simple process flow: no insulating layer needs to be deposited on the surface and inner wall of the substrate, and the ultra-thin adapter does not require secondary thinning.

(4) Strong mechanical stability: When the thickness of the adapter plate is less than 100μm, the warping is still small.

(5) Large-size ultra-thin glass substrates are easy to obtain: Glass manufacturers such as Corning, Asahi Glass and Schott can mass-produce ultra-large-size (greater than 2 m×2 m) and ultra-thin (less than 50μm) panel glass and ultra-thin flexible glass materials.

(6)Wide application fields: In addition to the high-frequency field, its transparency, good airtightness and corrosion resistance make it have great application prospects in the fields of optoelectronic system integration and MEMS packaging.

The key problem facing TGV technology is that there is no deep etching process similar to silicon, and it is difficult to quickly make glass deep holes with high aspect ratios. Traditional sandblasting, wet etching and laser drilling methods all have certain limitations. Inductively coupled plasma dry etching technology has high control accuracy, a smooth and flat etching surface, and good verticality. It is often used to etch high aspect ratio structures, but isotropic etching is serious. Due to the limitations of the mask deposition process on the glass substrate, a certain etching selectivity is required when etching deep holes. Improving the glass etching rate while ensuring the verticality of the sidewall and the etching selectivity has become a difficulty in current research. The high electroplating time and cost of TGV technology and the easy delamination between the substrate and the metal layer are also issues that restrict its development. TGV's high-quality filling technology is different from TSV. TGV has a relatively large aperture and is mostly through-hole, which will increase the electroplating time and cost. Compared with silicon materials, the glass surface is smooth and has poor adhesion to common metals (such as Cu), which can easily cause delamination between the glass substrate and the metal layer, resulting in curling of the metal layer or even falling off.

What is the market space and competition landscape of the glass substrate industry?

The global IC packaging substrate market is developing rapidly, and is expected to reach US$31.54 billion in 2029. With the rapid development of servers, 5G, artificial intelligence, big data, the Internet of Things, smart driving and other fields, the demand for chips continues to grow. As a core material, IC packaging substrates have become the fastest growing sub-industry in the PCB industry. Benefiting from the development of advanced packaging technology and the rapid growth of computing power demand, the application and demand of IC substrates continue to increase. According to Mordor Intelligence, the IC packaging substrate market size will reach US$18.11 billion in 2024 and US$31.54 billion in 2029, with a compound annual growth rate of 11.73% during the forecast period. Glass substrates are the latest trend in IC packaging substrates, and the penetration rate is expected to reach more than 50% within 5 years. Glass substrates are the latest trend in PCB substrates and may set off a major change in PCB substrates. With the entry of major manufacturers such as Intel and Samsung, the replacement of glass substrates for organic substrates will accelerate. It is expected that the penetration rate of glass substrates will reach 30% within 3 years and more than 50% within 5 years.

The global glass substrate market has a broad space and is expected to grow to US$11.3 billion by 2031. Benefiting from the growing demand for consumer electronics and the advancement of display technologies such as OLED and flexible displays, the global glass substrate market has grown steadily. With the emergence of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), and the growing demand for glass substrates for solar photovoltaic modules, the global glass substrate market has a broad space. According to Date Bridge Market Research, it will grow from US$6.54 billion in 2023 to US$11.3 billion in 2031, with a GAGR of 7.3% during the forecast period. The market size of China's glass substrate industry continues to expand, and the market prospects are broad. With the popularization and replacement of electronic products such as smartphones, tablets, and televisions, the demand for liquid crystal display devices continues to increase, which in turn drives the growth of the glass substrate market. According to data from the China Business Industry Research Institute, the size of China's glass substrate market will be approximately RMB 31 billion in 2022 and RMB 33.3 billion in 2023.

The glass substrate industry is a technology and capital intensive industry with high technical barriers and fierce competition. The glass substrate industry has a high degree of concentration, and CR3's market share exceeds 85%. At present, the global glass substrate market is mainly monopolized by American and Japanese companies, which have great advantages in technology, quality, scale, etc. However, with the development of emerging markets such as China, domestic companies have gradually risen and begun to occupy a certain share in the global market. Corning of the United States occupies a dominant position in the glass substrate industry, with a current market share of 48%, close to half of the market. Next are Japan's Asahi Glass, Electric Glass, and China's Dongxu Optoelectronics, accounting for 23%, 17%, and 8% respectively. In the field of high-generation line glass substrates, international manufacturers occupy a dominant position, and domestic manufacturers have a large gap. In the 8.5-generation line glass substrate market, Corning ranks first in the world with a market share of 29%, followed by Asahi Glass with a market share of 24%, and Electronic Glass with a market share of 21%. CR4's market share exceeds 95%. With the improvement of the generation line, major global glass substrate manufacturers have shifted their focus to high-generation lines, and domestic manufacturers are accelerating to fill the gap in the field of high-generation lines.

The localization of glass substrates is accelerating, and the market space is huge. The competition pattern of China's glass substrate industry is stable, mainly dominated by foreign-funded enterprises. In 2022, the number of foreign companies in my country's glass substrate industry will be

The company's market share is above 70%. At present, the manufacturers engaged in the production of glass substrates in my country mainly include Dongxu Optoelectronics, Caihong Technology, Triumph Technology, etc., and they are concentrated in low-generation lines, which can produce

There are fewer manufacturers of high-generation glass substrates, and most of them rely on cooperation with international giants. In June 2019, my country's first 8.5-generation TFT-LCD glass substrate production line was successfully ignited, which means that my country's first

Achieved localization of 8.5-generation TFT-LCD ultra-thin float glass substrate for the first time. At present, Caihong Co., Ltd.’s 8.5-generation overflow glass substrate products have begun to be supplied to customers. The second 8.5-generation line will be launched in February 2021.

The substrate glass production line was put into operation in Hefei. As China's voice in the panel industry grows and domestic manufacturers continue to make technological breakthroughs, the localization of glass substrates is accelerating, and the market space is huge.

The reason is that domestic manufacturers have significant cost advantages, and domestic substitution is inevitable. (1) Low production costs: Domestic labor costs and fuel power costs are cheaper than abroad. (2) Low transportation cost:

Domestic manufacturers have innate geographical advantages, and nearby supporting equipment reduces transportation risks and transportation costs. (3) Domestic support for the panel industry chain is strong: manufacturers can obtain

Certain government subsidies. Therefore, the price of domestic glass substrates will be significantly lower than that of imported glass substrates. For downstream panel manufacturers, using domestically produced materials makes their costs more controllable and helps them gain ground in competition.

Get a greater price advantage. Therefore, in the context of the clear trend of panel production capacity concentrating in the mainland, domestic substitution of materials is the general trend. Among them, HOREXS has also jointly developed glass substrate manufacturing with some top domestic equipment manufacturers.

Why are giants pushing glass substrates at the current node?

In pursuit of pushing the limits of Moore's Law, Intel, Samsung, Nvidia, TSMC and other major manufacturers have entered the glass substrate market. At a time when the semiconductor field is pursuing the limits of Moore's Law, industry companies are doing their best to incorporate more transistors and achieve stronger computing power. "Glass substrate" represents the competition in the material link. From Intel's first entry to Samsung, Nvidia, TSMC and other companies, replacing organic substrates with glass materials is becoming an industry consensus. In the field of high-end chips, organic substrates will reach their capacity limits in the next few years. Organic substrate materials are mainly made of PCB-like materials and woven glass laminates, allowing a considerable number of signals to be routed through the chip, including basic chiplet designs. But in high-end chips, organic substrates will reach their capacity limits in the next few years. Intel will produce SiPs for data centers with dozens of tiles and power consumption may be as high as several kilowatts. Such SiPs require very dense interconnections between chiplets while ensuring that the entire package does not bend due to heat during production or use. While silicon interposers (chips on wafers on substrates) and their derivatives (such as Intel's Co-EMIB) allow companies to connect the critical paths of chips with fast and dense silicon, they are quite costly and do not completely address the shortcomings of organic substrates.

Intel is the first in the industry to launch glass substrates for advanced packaging, which will help achieve its goals. In September 2023, Intel launched the most advanced processor developed based on the next-generation advanced packaging glass substrate, which is scheduled for mass production from 2026 to 2030. Intel is moving towards the goal of integrating 1 trillion transistors on a single package by 2030, and continued innovation in advanced packaging technologies, including glass substrates, will help achieve the goal. Intel believes that glass substrates will achieve more powerful computing power and promote the progress of Moore's Law. Intel said that glass substrates have excellent mechanical, physical and optical properties, which can build higher-performance multi-chip SiPs, place 50% more dies on the chip, cram in more Chiplet, and incorporate more transistors in a single package, which is expected to achieve more powerful computing power. It will redefine the boundaries of chip packaging, provide game-changing solutions for data centers, artificial intelligence and graphics construction, and promote the progress of Moore's Law. The characteristics of glass substrates are very suitable for Chiplet. Since the small chip design puts new requirements on the substrate signal transmission speed, power supply capability, design and stability, glass substrates can meet these requirements.

Samsung regards glass substrates as the future of chip packaging and has formed an "army" to increase research and development of glass substrates. Samsung Electronics, Samsung Display, Samsung Electro-Mechanics and other major electronics subsidiaries establish joint research and development

"United front", began to develop glass substrates. At CES 2024 in January, Samsung Electro-Mechanics proposed that it will establish a glass substrate prototype production line in 2024, with the goal of producing original glass substrates in 2025.

Model, mass production will be achieved in 2026, aiming to achieve commercialization faster than Intel, which entered glass substrate research and development ten years ago. Samsung Electronics is expected to have information on combining semiconductors with substrates, Samsung

Display will undertake tasks such as glass processing, and Samsung Electro-Mechanics will maximize R&D synergies through the alliance.

NVIDIA's GB200 may use a glass substrate and plans to put it into production. NVIDIA has released a number of breakthrough products with GB200 as the core, announcing that the advanced packaging process used by GB200 will use glass

The supply chain for the substrate has been launched and is currently in the design fine-tuning and testing phase. GB200 not only achieves a qualitative leap in computing power, increasing AI performance to 20 petaflops, but also significantly reduces energy consumption.

decrease. The subsequent formal production of GB200 chips will significantly stimulate the two new markets of semiconductor testing and glass substrates, with huge room for growth.

TSMC was not active in FOPLP technology in the past and shelved the development of glass substrate technology. TSMC's 3D Fabric system integration platform divides advanced packaging into three parts, namely front-end packaging SoIC, back-end advanced packaging CoWoS and InFO. Among them, InFO packaging based on FOWLP is exclusive to Apple. Due to the size of the equipment, TSMC has developed FOPLP technology in recent years, providing a packaging solution with lower unit cost. Due to the overall market demand and material limitations, TSMC was not active in FOPLP technology in the past and shelved the development of glass substrate technology. At present, TSMC has formed a special team to explore FOPLP technology and invested heavily in glass substrate research and development. DigiTimes said that with the rapid growth of market demand and Nvidia's constant urging, TSMC not only fully entered the semiconductor fan-out panel-level packaging (FOPLP), but also invested heavily in glass substrate research and development technology in order to achieve a breakthrough. It is expected to take about three years to wait for maturity, and mass production will be achieved as early as 2026. TSMC will announce the details of FOPLP packaging technology and disclose the size specifications of the glass substrate at a semiconductor conference in September 2024.

Which links in the glass substrate industry chain are expected to benefit?

The upstream raw materials, production, and equipment links of the glass substrate industry chain are expected to benefit. With the maturity of glass through-hole technology and breakthroughs in the application of glass substrates, the demand for glass substrates will usher in a substantial increase, and the upstream raw materials, production, and equipment links are expected to benefit, thereby promoting the demand for domestic related production and equipment manufacturers.

The demand for alumina, a raw material for glass substrates, is expected to grow. Glass substrate manufacturing requires raw materials such as silica sand, soda ash, limestone, boric acid, and alumina. In the past five years, China's alumina production has maintained a steady growth trend, increasing to 82.441 million tons in 2023. As one of the raw materials for glass substrates, the demand for alumina is expected to grow, and it is expected that China's alumina production will continue to grow in 2024.

Dongxu Optoelectronics independently developed Panda high-aluminum glass, which is expected to make breakthroughs in the raw material link. According to the difference in production formula, glass substrates are divided into two categories: sodium-lime glass and high-aluminum glass. Sodium-lime glass is made by adding ingredients such as calcium oxide and sodium oxide to the silica matrix. The formula is relatively simple and the technical threshold is not high. High-aluminum glass is made by adding alumina to the basic glass components. This addition not only significantly improves the strength of the glass material, but also reduces the difficulty of strengthening treatment. High-aluminum glass has high formula barriers and complex manufacturing processes. Only a few companies in the world, such as Corning, have mastered this technology. Panda high-aluminum glass independently developed by Dongxu Optoelectronics Co., Ltd. Xuhong Optoelectronics is China's first high-adhesion glass in the field of solar thermal power generation. It is also the first time in the world that high-aluminum glass has been used in solar thermal projects.

Glass substrate production process:

(1) High-temperature melting: Put the mixed raw materials into a high-temperature melting furnace above 1500℃ and melt them for a certain period of time to ensure that the raw materials are fully melted and reacted, and various impurities and bubbles are gradually discharged.

(2) Homogenization: Add a homogenizer and stir to make the chemical composition of the glass liquid more uniform and improve the quality of the glass substrate.

(3) Molding:

1. Float method, the glass liquid is poured on the liquid tin flow and allowed to gradually cool and solidify;

2. Rolling method, the glass liquid is poured on a metal belt and gradually cooled and solidified by the movement of the conveyor belt.

(4) Processing: Cut the large-size substrate into the required size and polish the edges and corners to improve the flatness and smoothness of the product.

(5) Cleaning and inspection: Remove impurities and contaminants on the surface of the substrate, and perform various physical property tests at the same time to ensure that the product meets quality requirements.

(6) Packaging and film lamination: The substrate is properly packaged and protected to prevent damage during transportation and use. Domestic glass substrate manufacturers are expected to occupy a place in the high-generation field. Domestic substrate glass manufacturers are mainly concentrated on G4.5-G6 production lines. In the field of the most advanced 8.5-generation line glass substrates,

with the growth of demand for glass substrates, domestic companies are accelerating to make up for the gap in the high-generation field. Rainbow Group and Dongxu Optoelectronics are expected to occupy a place in the future, and the localization of glass substrates will accelerate.

The market space is huge. At present, Dongxu Optoelectronics' liquid crystal glass substrates fully cover G5, G6 and G8.5 generation TFT-LCD liquid crystal glass substrate products. The G5, G6, and G8.5 generation liquid crystal glass substrate products produced can provide high-quality glass substrate products for downstream panel customers with different size requirements, including BOE, Longteng Optoelectronics and other well-known domestic high-end manufacturing companies.

Drilling is the core step of TGV, which is completed by drilling equipment. The method that is currently being studied more is laser-induced deep etching (LIDE). This method only requires two steps. The first step is to selectively laser modify the processed glass according to the design pattern. In LIDE, a single laser pulse is sufficient to produce a modification effect on the entire thickness, and the ultra-high efficiency is suitable for mass production needs. In the second step, the modified area is etched by wet chemical etching, and its etching rate is much higher than that of unmodified materials. Compared with the traditional micro-hole drilling process, the glass through-holes made by LIDE have no micro-cracks, no debris, no residual thermal stress, and high quality, precision and consistency. With the growth of demand from domestic glass substrate manufacturers, some domestic companies have begun to develop LIDE technology, which is expected to achieve a technological breakthrough in drilling equipment. Investment in the IC packaging substrate industry continues. At present, the main drilling equipment is still imported, but imported equipment has problems such as long ordering cycle and poor after-sales service. Domestic packaging substrate companies are in urgent need of seeking domestic substitution. Some domestic companies have begun to develop LIDE technology. For example, Han's Display and Semiconductor have developed laser-induced etching rapid prototyping technology (LIERP), which has proven to solve the problem of processing microholes on substrates with large aspect ratios (substrate thickness/aperture diameter). It has outstanding advantages in the field of high-efficiency processing of high-precision microholes. This application equipment has been verified by customers and is in stable mass production.

The development and exposure process refers to the transfer of the designed circuit pattern to the PCB substrate, which requires development equipment to complete and is carried out after drilling. According to whether a film is used during exposure, the exposure technology can be divided into laser direct imaging technology (LDI) and traditional film exposure technology. Compared with the traditional exposure process using film materials, laser direct imaging technology uses a fully digital production mode, which saves the multi-step process in traditional exposure technology and avoids the quality problems caused by film materials in traditional exposure.

High-density wiring of glass substrates requires development. Compared with organic substrates, the roughness of the glass surface is small, so high-density wiring can be performed on glass. The unique thin film process of redistribution layer (RDL) technology can form circuits on glass substrates, thereby providing low-loss output ends for chips and package interconnects. High-precision exposure and development are required.

With the rapid development of the electronic information industry and the demand for glass substrates, global PCB production capacity continues to shift to China, and the demand for LDI equipment continues to grow. Especially in the field of semiconductors and flat-panel displays, LDI equipment has become a key equipment on the production line, and the domestic output of LDI equipment has increased significantly. In 2023, China's laser direct imaging (LDI) equipment production will be 235 units, and the market demand will be 447 units; it is expected that in 2024, China's laser direct imaging (LDI) equipment production will be about 300 units, and the market demand will be about 500 units. At present, the main domestic LDI equipment manufacturers include Hefei Xingji Micro, Jiangsu Yingsu, Tianjin Xinshuo, Zhongshan Xinnuo, and Han's Laser.

After development, electroplating is performed. Electroplating equipment is required to complete the electroplating filling of TGV deep holes, and the filling method is generally butterfly filling. At present, the electroplating filling method of vertical TGV through holes is generally butterfly filling. Compared with the bottom-up blind hole electroplating filling of TSV silicon-based semiconductor process, there are obvious differences in fluid mechanics and mass transfer. When filling blind holes, it is difficult for the plating solution to flow in the hole; while inside the through hole, the plating solution can flow to enhance the internal mass transfer. In addition, the geometric shapes of through holes and blind holes are different. There is no bottom of the blind hole, and the bottom-up filling method will not be generated. The differences between TGV through holes and blind holes in terms of geometry, flow field, mass transfer, etc., result in that the electroplating formula and process used for blind hole filling cannot be directly used for TGV through holes. The continuous maturity of glass substrate technology has brought huge business opportunities for the upgrading of electroplating equipment, and domestic related companies have made efforts. For example, Fozhixin has developed multiple sets of surface treatment and metallization electroplating adaptation solutions for different glass and customer requirements. The depth-to-diameter ratio of electroplating metallization solution/copper paste plugging process is less than 20:1, and the metallization bonding strength can reach more than 8.26N/cm. Shengmei Shanghai launched Ultra ECP ap-p panel-level electroplating equipment for FOPLP, which can process panels up to 515×510 mm in size, and a 600x600 mm version is also available. The equipment is compatible with organic substrates and glass substrates, and can be used for through-silicon via filling, copper pillars, nickel and tin-silver electroplating, solder bumps, and high-density fan-out products with copper, nickel, tin-silver and gold electroplating layers.

The downstream MEMS market of glass substrates will also benefit from this, and the market size is expected to reach US$25.19 billion in 2029. Glass wafers are used in MEMS wafer-level packaging because glass wafer manufacturing has a series of unique advantages. Nowadays, glass wafers are increasingly used as a technical component of MEMS and as a replacement substrate for silicon wafers in other electronic products. MEMS sensors have high reliability and perfect performance for long-term operation even in harsh environments. Glass wafers provide strong protection for these sensitive components to prevent them from being corroded or damaged. According to Mordor Intelligence, the global MEMS market size will reach US$16.81 billion in 2024 and US$25.19 billion in 2029, with a compound annual growth rate of 8.43% during the forecast period. Glass substrates are becoming a powerful driver of the consumer electronics market. In MEMS medical applications, glass wafers have promoted the development of MEMS airtight housing packaging technology in the medical device industry. In consumer electronics, glass wafers are usually used as carriers. In the market of electronic devices manufactured using semiconductors, glass wafers are often used as substrate materials due to their excellent thermal stability and chemical resistance. In the field of IoT devices, glass wafers have been used for MEMS and sensors. Other applications include LCD displays, touch panels, solar cells, and electroluminescent displays.