Micron Revealed Osmium Packaging Technology

EETimes: Micron revealed a new packaging technology that can be applied to reduce the footprint of both semiconductor devices and image sensors.
"Osmium" package is still in development but has the potential to half die size by eliminating wire bonds completely. In the through-wafer interconnects (TWI) technique holes are drilled directly through the die bond pad and a conductive material fills them. This provides the shortest route for a connection to the bond of a second die. Using redistributed layer technology allows for pad balls to be redistributed from the die bond to meet standard and custom ball patterns at the edge of the die. Finally the wafer-level encapsulation encloses the die on all six sides while it is still part of the wafer.
The packaged parts are mere microns larger than a bare die device at a lower cost, since batch processing die can increase manufacturing efficiency.
The side benefit to Micron is that its memory devices and image sensors potentially can be made without leadframes and substrates and reduce the packaging cost, now estimated to comprise 15 to 25 percent of the finished product cost.