"This license agreement with Sony is an exciting milestone for Ziptronix because it removes any doubt that our patented DBI hybrid bonding technology is both manufacturable and beneficial for high volume applications," noted Dan Donabedian, CEO and president of Ziptronix. "We believe it demonstrates that our patented hybrid bonding technology is both enabling and cost effective as compared to stacking with TSVs. Sony licensed Ziptronix's ZiBond direct bonding patents in 2011, which we also believe grew their image sensor market share from a few percent to the largest market share in the industry. We expect this new license for Ziptronix's DBI hybrid bonding patents will further contribute to Sony's growth within the industry. Any company wishing to compete in this space will need Ziptronix's DBI hybrid bonding patents."
DBI Fact Sheet lists the technology's features:
- Interconnect pitch ≤10µm
- Accommodates 1.5M connections/cm2
- No adhesives, solders, pressure, underfill or wire bonding required to bond and connect layers of active devices
- Uses standard fab tools and processes
- Highest reliability of all 3D processes because of hermetic sealing
- Accommodates face-to-face architectures (top die/wafer upside down)
- Accommodates face-to-back architectures (use of through-die vias/buried contacts)
Ziptronix DBI page says:
"DBI can achieve over 100,000,000 electrical connections per square centimeter; a significant increase over the ~ 100,000 connections per square centimeter density achieved with through-die vias used in other 3D interconnect approaches."
A Youtube video shows how it works:
