Blog Details

1. Why Temporary Carriers Matter in Advanced Packaging

In 2.5D/3D advanced packaging and heterogeneous integration, the Temporary Wafer Carrier (TWC) has become a critical enabling material rather than a secondary consumable.

Its primary roles include:

• Providing mechanical support for ultra-thin wafers (≤ 50 μm);

• Enabling temporary bonding and debonding (TB/DB) processes;

• Supporting wafer thinning, TSV, RDL, and backside metallization;

• Maintaining wafer integrity under high temperature, stress, and chemical environments.

From a manufacturing perspective, temporary carriers contribute to:

1. Yield improvement – reducing cracks, breakage, and local defects;

2. Process window expansion – allowing thinner wafers and more complex stacking;

3. Process repeatability – improving batch-to-batch consistency.

2. Market Drivers and Industry Trends

Although there is no independent official market data exclusively for temporary carriers, industry forecasts for the broader temporary bonding/debonding (TB/DB) system and materials market indicate:

• Global market size of approximately USD 450 million by 2025 (including carriers, bonding materials, and equipment).

• The share of 12-inch temporary carriers is expected to grow rapidly, with an estimated CAGR of 18%–22% from 2025 to 2030.

Key driving forces include:

• Rapid growth of AI, HPC, and HBM;

• Expansion of 2.5D/3D stacking and Chiplet architectures;

• Widespread adoption of ultra-thin wafers (≤ 50 μm);

• Emerging panel-level packaging (FOPLP) applications.

The industry is shifting from “process feasibility” to “yield, reliability, and total cost optimization.”

3. Main Temporary Carrier Materials: Technical Comparison

Below is a translated and structured comparison of mainstream temporary carrier materials in advanced packaging.

Key Insights from the Table

• Glass carriers dominate the current market due to good flatness and compatibility with laser debonding.

• Silicon carriers remain critical for high-end 2.5D/3D and HBM packaging.

• Polymer carriers are gradually losing share as packaging becomes more demanding.

• Ceramic/sapphire carriers are gaining attention for ultra-thin wafers and high-reliability applications.

4. The Warpage Challenge in Advanced Packaging

As packaging becomes thinner and more complex, warpage has emerged as one of the most critical reliability issues.

Root Causes of Warpage

1. CTE mismatch between different materials (silicon, glass, polymers, metals, dielectrics).

2. Structural asymmetry in ultra-thin wafers, amplifying bending effects.

3. Curing shrinkage of adhesives and dielectric layers during thermal cycles.

Impacts of Warpage

• Reduced alignment accuracy;

• Higher risk of wafer cracking;

• Lower manufacturing yield;

• Degraded long-term reliability.

Thus, warpage control is now considered a core manufacturability metric in advanced packaging.

5. Why High-Stiffness Transparent Carriers Matter

An ideal temporary carrier should provide:

• High Young’s modulus – to resist deformation;

• High hardness – to ensure durability;

• High optical transparency – for laser debonding compatibility;

• Excellent chemical resistance – for repeated cleaning;

• Dimensional stability – under repeated thermal cycles.

Single-crystal sapphire (Al₂O₃) stands out because it offers:

• High stiffness → better warpage suppression;

• Mohs hardness ~9 → excellent wear resistance;

• Broad optical transmission → supports multiple debonding techniques;

• Outstanding chemical stability → long service life;

• Low creep and fatigue → suitable for multi-cycle use.

As wafers become thinner and packaging more complex, high-stiffness transparent carriers are shifting from optional to mainstream.

6. From Wafer-Level to Panel-Level Carriers

Two parallel development paths are emerging:

(1) 12-inch Wafer-Level Carriers

• Stricter flatness (TTV) requirements;

• High compatibility with existing semiconductor fabs;

• Used for AI, HPC, and advanced logic chips.

(2) Panel-Level Carriers (FOPLP)

• Large rectangular substrates;

• Higher throughput per substrate;

• Lower cost per chip;

• Growing adoption in display drivers, RF chips, and some compute chips.

Long-term outlook: Wafer-level and panel-level packaging will coexist rather than replace each other.

7. Regional Landscape

Global

East Asia (Taiwan, Korea, Japan) remains the hub for advanced packaging, with:

• Complete supply chains;

• Leading materials and equipment ecosystems;

• Strong high-volume manufacturing capabilities.

China Mainland

The Yangtze River Delta (Shanghai, Suzhou) and Pearl River Delta (Shenzhen, Zhuhai) have developed strong packaging clusters, with increasing local capabilities in materials, equipment, and process integration.

Localization of high-end packaging materials is expected to accelerate.

8. Future Outlook

The future of advanced packaging will depend not only on process scaling but also on materials innovation.

Key directions include:

• Larger carrier sizes;

• Lower warpage and higher flatness;

• Better high-temperature and chemical resistance;

• More reuse cycles to reduce total cost of ownership (TCO).

Temporary carriers are no longer just “supports” — they are key determinants of yield, reliability, and performance in advanced packaging.