Tower Licenses Xperi Patents for 3D Stacked Image Sensors with 2.5um Per-Pixel Interconnect

BusinessWire: Xperi Holding and Tower announce Tower’s license of Invensas ZiBond and DBI 3D semiconductor interconnect technologies. This technology complements Tower’s stacked wafer BSI sensor platforms for ToF, industrial global shutter and other CMOS image sensors on 300mm and 200mm wafers.

“With our fast portfolio expansion, Xperi’s leadership in direct and hybrid bonding technologies enables us to support the rapidly evolving requirements of our customer base as they develop next-generation applications,” said Avi Strum, SVP and GM of the Sensors Business Unit, Tower. “3D stacking architectures and integration are core to our strategy of providing the highest value, proven analog semiconductor solutions, including event-driven and time of flight sensors for mobile, automotive, industrial and high-end photography applications.”

With the recently released full design kit for hybrid bonding, Tower’s customers can now design their products on two different wafers, an imager wafer and a mixed-signal CMOS wafer, that are then stacked together with electrical connections on a pixel level, from 10um pitch for applications such as dToF and event-driven sensors, down to 2.5um and even below for applications such as mobile ToF for face recognition applications. This separation into two wafers allows high speed circuitry on the CMOS side, with high sensitivity pixels, due to BSI, and low dark current, below 1 electron/sec per square micron at 60 degrees Celsius, on the imager side. Tower’s unique platform also allows the use of different Epi thicknesses for near infrared sensitivity enhancement.

“Tower Semiconductor continues to strengthen its position as a leading and trusted analog foundry partner of customers around the world,” said Craig Mitchell, President of Invensas, a wholly owned subsidiary of Xperi. “Our ZiBond and DBI technologies support the manufacturing of a wide range of devices. We are excited to partner with Tower Semiconductor to deploy our foundational 3D integration technologies into a range of new sensors, in particular time of flight sensors, which we anticipate will be increasingly utilized in automotive, mobile and industrial applications. This partnership continues the strong momentum Xperi has enjoyed as manufacturers worldwide position themselves to address an evolving range of industry needs.”