Packaging Engineer
Engineers who design packages and run the assembly processes that connect a chip to the outside world and protect it from heat, mechanical stress and moisture, including advanced packages that combine several chips.
What the job involves
Packaging engineers take chips cut from the wafer and turn them into a form that connects electrically to the board and protects them from heat, mechanical stress and moisture. The work broadly divides into design and development, deciding the package structure and materials, and assembly process engineering, developing and sustaining steps such as dicing, die bonding, wire bonding or flip-chip interconnection and encapsulation. They use simulation and evaluation to check how heat will be removed from the product and how it will withstand warpage and strain caused by temperature changes. Advanced packages that combine several chips in one package are also part of this role.
Who they work with and what they handle
They discuss pin placement and power delivery with chip designers, results of temperature cycling and other tests with reliability engineers, and final test methods with test engineers. They also often work with suppliers of materials such as package substrates and mold compounds, and with OSATs that provide assembly services. What they handle: materials such as lead frames, package substrates, solder balls, mold compound and underfill, plus assembly equipment, thermal and stress simulations, and inspection results from cross-sections and X-ray imaging.
Knowledge and skills
This role draws on materials, mechanical, thermal and electrical knowledge all at once. The basics include stress caused by mismatched thermal expansion between materials, fatigue of solder and other joints, and estimating temperature rise from thermal resistance. For products with high-speed signals, electrical design knowledge about interconnect parasitics and signal quality is also needed. Some workplaces use simulation such as the finite element method. Advanced packaging also calls for knowledge of fine-pitch processing close to the front end, such as TSV (through-silicon via), redistribution layers (RDL) and hybrid bonding.
Where to start
Start with the “Packaging and assembly” field to learn basic structures such as wire bonding, flip chip and BGA, and the assembly flow. Then cover the technologies that connect multiple chips in “Advanced packaging (3D and chiplets)”. Failure mechanisms that limit package lifetime are in “Reliability”, specifications such as thermal resistance and MSL are in “How to read datasheets”, and inspection after assembly is in “Testing and inspection”. The “Back end, quality and safety” course pulls the whole back end together.
Fields to learn
Packaging and assembly 50 questions Advanced packaging (3D and chiplets) 52 questions Reliability 51 questions How to read datasheets 50 questions Testing and inspection 51 questions
10 starter questions for this role
Ten basic questions from the fields this role uses
Recommended courses
Key terms
Dicing Die bonding Wire bonding Flip chip BGA Underfill Reflow soldering Thermal resistance MSL (moisture sensitivity level) Chiplet TSV (through-silicon via) Redistribution layer (RDL)
FAQ
Can I become a packaging engineer without a technical background or industry experience?
Knowledge of materials, mechanical or electrical engineering is useful for this role. Experience in nearby fields, such as electronics assembly, printed circuit boards or mechanical design, can be put to use. Policies on hiring and training people without industry experience differ by company and change over time, so check each job posting.
How is it different from a front-end process engineer?
Front-end process engineers handle the steps that build transistors and wiring on the wafer. Packaging engineers handle everything from cutting out the finished chip to turning it into a product, and their main themes are heat, mechanical strength and joining different materials. In advanced packaging, however, wiring and bonding are often done at the wafer level, so the boundary between the two is getting closer.
Do I need any license or certification?
In general, no specific license or certification is required. In practice, fundamentals of materials, thermal and mechanical engineering and experience with evaluation and simulation count most. Some people use skills certificates related to electronics assembly or soldering as study aids, but how much they count in hiring differs by company.