Asahi Kasei’s New Photosensitive Polyimide Film for 3D Packaging Set for Mass Production

Asahi Kasei has developed a new type of photosensitive polyimide film that aligns with the semiconductor industry's trend toward panel-level packaging. This product combines the core technological advantages of the company's liquid photosensitive polyimide and dry film photoresist, effectively enhancing the production efficiency and yield of the new generation of packaging processes.

This film integrates the characteristics of two types of products: it retains the performance of Pimel liquid photosensitive polyimide materials used for buffer coatings and passivation layers, while also incorporating Sunfort dry film photoresist technology that can temporarily photolithographically pattern circuits on substrates and wafers. The product has now been handed over to customers for testing and evaluation, and is expected to be officially launched to the market soon.

Enhance production efficiency

This new type of film can be uniformly and easily applied to large-size square panels via a lamination process, significantly improving the production efficiency of semiconductor packaging. The product is compatible with multi-layer insulation structure designs and will be used in the future for redistribution layers in semiconductor packaging as well as insulation layers in packaging substrates.

When used in combination with the Sunfort TA series, which can produce fine lines as narrow as 1 micrometer, the film allows the manufacturer to simultaneously create fine circuit patterns and insulating resin layers through a lamination process alone. Asahi Kasei is also concurrently advancing a compatible solution pairing the film with the Sunfort CX series to meet the high aspect ratio copper pillar fabrication requirements for 3D semiconductor packaging.

Aligned with market development needs

Nobuko Ueda, Senior Executive Director of Asahi Kasei's Electronic Materials Division, stated that the company is fully prepared to respond to the changing application needs of its customers.

“As AI chip performance continues to advance, advanced semiconductor packaging urgently requires large-size, high-precision assembly process technologies,” said Nobuko Ueda. “With this new photosensitive polyimide film, we help customers improve production yield and processing efficiency, while also driving the continued evolution and upgrading of advanced semiconductor packaging technologies.”

Listed as a core strategic business

According to Asahi Kasei, its electronics business has been positioned as the top-priority growth segment in the company’s medium-term management plan for collaborative expansion. Electronic materials such as Pimel photosensitive polyimide and Sunfort dry film photoresist are widely used in advanced semiconductor packaging applications. As chip packaging density continues to increase and interposer sizes for AI data centers gradually expand, market demand for related materials is steadily rising.

As packaging evolves from wafer-level to panel-level and three-dimensional integration becomes increasingly advanced, circuit routing grows more intricate and the number of stacked layers continues to increase, which also places higher demands on the overall performance of packaging materials.

Asahi Kasei, founded in 1922, is a diversified multinational corporation with a global workforce of 50,000 employees. Its business spans three sectors—healthcare, homes and living, and materials—and it advances sustainability through a wide range of diversified solutions.