A few weeks ago, I spoke with a packaging lead stuck in a frustrating loop.
Their team had a promising interposer layout ready to go… but they were stalled.
Not because of simulation errors.
Not because of design issues.
Because they couldn’t justify a full mask set for a concept they weren’t even sure would work.
Why Interposer Validation Needs to Evolve
Interposer development is moving fast… but validation hasn’t caught up.
- Mask sets are expensive to produce
- Lead times stretch into months
- Most changes require a full re-run
So what happens?
- Teams delay testing until late-stage layout freeze
- Early experiments get killed by tooling friction
- Substrate options go unexplored
We’re trying to de-risk advanced packaging… by adding more risk.
Why Print-Inspect-Iterate Is the New Flow
Smart teams are flipping the equation.
Instead of designing for litho… they’re designing for iteration.
That means:
- Print interposer routes directly onto target substrates
- Inspect vias, pads, and RDL performance in the lab
- Make tweaks and re-test same week
This unlocks faster learning… without burning a mask budget.
Tools That Enable Agile Interposer Exploration
- Hummink’s NAZCA prints micron-level features on glass and silicon… perfect for RDL and via prototyping
- Neotech AMT supports 3D printing on curved and irregular shapes… ideal for next-gen substrates
- MKS Instruments provides gold-standard photolithography systems… necessary for final runs, but not early testing
Each tool has a place. But they serve different phases.
Why This Matters for Advanced Packaging Teams
When you can validate without committing to full CapEx:
- More substrate options stay on the table
- You test more layouts per quarter
- You reduce the emotional pressure to “get it right on the first spin”
And your roadmap becomes more resilient.
The Bottom Line
Advanced packaging is only getting more complex.
But if we wait for litho to tell us what’s broken… we’re not learning fast enough.
So ask your team:
Are we validating for flexibility?
Or locking ourselves into a tooling bottleneck too early?
