What is an IC engineering substrate? What testing phases and products are they suitable for?
An IC Engineering Substrate is a customized test board specifically designed for the early stages of chip development. Its primary purpose is to enable functional validation and electrical testing before the chip is officially packaged (Pre-Package stage).
By providing a stable electrical connection and signal transmission for bare dies, the engineering substrate allows engineers to simulate post-package conditions—including routing and electrical characteristics—facilitating design verification and debugging in the early development phase.
As process nodes continue to shrink and pin counts increase dramatically, traditional PCB technologies have reached their limits in pad pitch capability. Meanwhile, standard substrate manufacturers typically focus on high-volume production, making it difficult to meet thelow-volume, multi-variant, and quick-turn needs of engineering samples.
Even when an engineering substrate is finally available, engineers often face another bottleneck—finding a packaging house for die mounting, which adds time, cost, and complexity, ultimately delaying the overall verification schedule.
To address this critical gap, iST’s IC Engineering Substrate One-Stop Service was developed.
Why choose iST to make IC engineering substrates?
What can iST do for you
iST provides a “IC Engineering Substrate” one-stop solution, covering the entire process from substrate design and fabrication to die mounting and engineering sample build, as well as integration with subsequent interface and burn-in board design, manufacturing, and assembly.
This comprehensive service enables customers to complete early-stage validation at the EVT/DVT phase, shortening development cycles, reducing design iteration costs, and accelerating time-to-market.
1. Customized IC Engineering Substrate Design
- Supports multi-layer structures, high I/O density, and various package configurations.
- Provides high-frequency electrical simulation, thermal management, and layout optimization recommendations.
2. Substrate Fabrication and Quality Verification
- Capable of 20 μm line width and 20 μm line spacing precision fabrication.
- Core test board options include PCB, Ceramic, Glass, PI, and Silicon, using ABF-class materials for build-up layers.
- All substrates undergo flying probe inspection, and packaged IC samples can be verified using socket + I-V testing prior to delivery, ensuring stability and reliability.
3. Die Bonding (Wire Bond / Flip Chip)
- Provides die mount and bonding services.
- Supporting various packaging types and heterogeneous integration requirements.
4. Integrated Test Platform Validation
- Compatible with general test sockets on the market, offering various universal substrate types for rapid test board verification.
- Compatible with iST’s in-house electrical characterization systems, enabling validation under burn-in, high-temperature, and high-humidity conditions to ensure device reliability performance.
The Superiority of iST
- Supporting 2.5D / 3D IC, CPO, and SiP heterogeneous integration solutions
- Pre-Package Functional Verification and Performance Evaluation:
Enables critical electrical and functional testing before final package assembly. - Reliability Test Platform Development:
Provides customized verification substrates for device-level validation prior to thermal cycling, humidity, and other environmental stress tests. - Early Validation for Key Dies:
Designed for chips requiring performance verification before full package completion, ensuring design integrity and reducing rework risks.
Product Type
Contact Window | Ms. Lin/Aaliyah | Tel:+886-3-5799909#8890 | Email:HWBU_Sales@istgroup.com