Polyimides for electronics applications

A variety of options exists for lithographically defining polyimides for microelectronics applications. The two investigated here, photosensitive polyimide and wet etching of low‐stress polyimides, offer lower cost, higher throughput solutions compared with dry etch processes. Via sizes of less than 25 μm and film thicknesses of greater than 14 μm are difficult to process using these techniques: however, for applications such as interlayer dielectrics for high‐density packaging or solder masks for flip chip die attachment, these limitations may not be insurmountable. Photosensitive polyimide can be patterned with fewer steps, but the overall quality of the film in terms of surface planarity and residual stress is not as good as wet etching of conventional polyimide.