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In some articles speaking about the IGBT power modules, we can see that the word 'die' has been used for calling the semiconductor component of IGBT device. However, other articles calls it 'chip'. Similarly, the solder layer which connects the semiconductor component to the beneath substrate is called either 'die attach solder' or 'chip solder joint'. Accurately, which word is correct for the semiconductor component of the IGBT power modules? Die or chip?

Mike
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Albert
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    I do not think "chip" is a technical term with a precise meaning. For me, the definition of "chip" is "integrated circuit." So an IGBT would not be a chip. The IGBT is a transistor, not an integrated circuit. Because chip is not a precise term, I prefer "die attach solder." But this is a matter of opinion. Note that the term "chip scale package" is in popular usage. So, maybe I should give in and just say "chip." I am voting to close this question because I think it is mainly opinion based. – user57037 Jan 26 '20 at 22:01
  • chip is a vague laymen term. maybe it was a technical term with rigourous meaning at some point, but if it was it has been coopted – DKNguyen Jan 26 '20 at 22:14
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    I've worked in FABs for years and also consumed dice directly from manufacturers (and wire-bonded them, myself.) Just my opinion, but I agree with the others here. A wafer is initially tested, marking each bad die with a "spot." The wafers are then sliced up into dice (more than one die) and the bad ones tossed out (or something.) The remaining good ones will either be directed for packing up into "waffle packs" or else directed over for packaging. For packaging, there is a carrier that holds the die and provides leads. The die is then bonded to the carrier leads and epoxied and tested again. – jonk Jan 26 '20 at 22:21
  • Note that I never once used the term "chip" in this discussion. I don't recall anyone I worked with calling them chips. But I'm not old enough to have worked on ICs from the 1960's and early 1970's. So I'd guess that they may not have developed wafer processing to the art it is at now, and instead perhaps used so-called "chips" of silicon for the earliest devices. Then, perhaps "chips" instead of "wafers," today. That may be where that term came from. But I'm guessing, only. (Wafers today are sliced from boules, which are "pulled" slowly from a high temperature "melt".) – jonk Jan 26 '20 at 22:24
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    U.S. workers, by the way, can only monitor about two boule pullers (per worker.) In Japan, their workers can monitor 10 or more at once. (They need lots less staffing there in Japan. In the US, more employees are required.) The reason is that workers in Japan stay in the same job for much, much longer and have vastly better knowledge and experience to draw from. (Learned this from arguments between a Japanese company building a FAB near me and bitching about the staffing load we were proposing. Visiting Japan proved they really could do it with less.) – jonk Jan 26 '20 at 22:32
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    Wafer -> *Slicing* -> Die -> *Packaging* -> Chip. – Jeroen3 Jan 27 '20 at 15:35
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    @DKNguyen - I have never heard the term 'chip' as a precise meaning in all my years in electronics (which goes back to 1970 or earlier if you count hobby kits); I believe the term became popular in the mainstream and DIY publications to indicate how small these new shiny devices were. – Peter Smith Jan 27 '20 at 16:10
  • So then my company must be an outlier in that we use the term "chip" all the time. Sometimes it is used interchangeably with "die", and sometimes it's not. Right now I'm involved (peripherally) with the design of a new XYZ Chip. That's what it's called in all the documentation and the design reviews - the "XYZ Chip". – SteveSh Jan 27 '20 at 18:23
  • Also there's a technique out there called "flip chip" technology, where the attaching pads/bumps are on the top of the chip/die, and the chip/die is flipped over for direct attachment to the substrate. It's not called "flip die", at least that I've heard. – SteveSh Jan 27 '20 at 18:26

1 Answers1

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My understanding:

  • Die - a piece of microfabricated semiconductor (silicon, germanium, GaAs...)
  • Chip - the packaged die (or multiple dice), die + lead frame + epoxy (or no lead frame in case chip-scale package, or ceramics instead of the epoxy)
filo
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