Acronym · Packaging & Assembly
SiP (System in Package)
A single package containing multiple dice and often passives, filters or antennas, delivering a functional subsystem rather than one chip. Content can be side by side, stacked, or a mix, on a laminate or module substrate.
- Also known as
- System-in-package
- Type
- Acronym
- Domain
- Packaging & Assembly, Package families
Notes
The commercial umbrella term OSATs use for modules such as wireless front ends, wearables mainboards and sensor combos.
Overview
A SiP, short for system in package, is a single package that holds several dies and often passive components, filters, shielding or antennas, so that it delivers a working subsystem rather than one chip. The parts can sit side by side, be stacked, or be embedded in the package substrate. SiPs are common where space is tight, such as in phones, wearables and radio front-end modules, and they are an alternative to integrating everything on a single system-on-chip die.
How it works
A SiP starts from a package substrate, usually a laminate, that carries the wiring between its parts. Dies are attached either face up and connected with fine bond wires, or face down as flip chips on solder bumps, and the two methods can be mixed in one package. Dies can also be stacked on top of each other, or whole packages stacked as package on package. Passive components such as capacitors, inductors and resistors are mounted alongside or embedded in the substrate, and the assembly is moulded. Synopsys groups SiP with 2.5D, 3D-IC and fan-out packaging as one of the advanced packaging approaches, using them to combine multiple dies so that the package behaves like a complete system.
Outsourced assembly and test companies offer many SiP variants. Amkor, for example, lists double-sided moulded packages that place components on both faces of the substrate, antenna-in-package and antenna-on-package modules for 5G millimetre-wave radios, shielding, and test as part of a turnkey service.
The benefits are size, the freedom to combine dies from different processes, and a shorter route to a product than designing a new SoC. The costs are thermal management in a crowded package, testing several dies together, and yield: one faulty die can scrap the whole module, so each die must be tested well before assembly.
Examples
- A 5G radio front-end module combining amplifiers, switches and filters in a double-sided moulded SiP.
- A smartwatch or earbud module that combines several dies and passive components in one SiP to save space.
- An antenna-in-package module for millimetre-wave 5G with the antenna formed in the package itself.
- An automotive infotainment or electronic control unit SiP built on an IATF 16949 certified line.
Why it matters
SiP lets product makers fit radio, power, memory and processing into very small devices, and lets chip companies sell complete modules instead of separate parts. Package architects and designers, RF module engineers, antenna-in-package engineers and module test engineers work on SiPs, often with the outsourced assembly and test company that builds them.
Related terms
Part of the Packaging & Assembly glossary, with every term in the topic and the lifecycles, tools and standards that use them.
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Last reviewed . Written by The Semiconductor Hub editorial team. The full glossary