Semiconductor packaging is often neglected amidst concentration on chip fabrication, but it plays a vital role in chip performance, routing power to the chip, providing a fast and reliable signal path for an ever increasing number of connections, and efficiently dissipating heat from the chip’s operation.
The Intel 8008 microprocessor paid a severe performance penalty and required complex external interface logic due to Intel’s being forced to squeeze all of its external interface signals into an 18-pin dual-inline package (DIP), the largest available in 1972. The subsequent introduction of 40- and 64-pin DIPs played a large part in making the next generations of microprocessors and large-scale-integrated (LSI) support chips practical.
We’re now entering an era where, as multi-tile and vertically stacked chips become increasingly common, packaging inside the component mounted on a circuit board is becoming as important as how the package is mounted to the board.