Sharp claims an industry first with the developement of 0.5-mm ball pitch technology for 3D System in Package (SIP).

Sharp will begin trial shipment of two system LSIs for digital still cameras, the LR38683 and LR38682, in June 2005, with mass-production to start in July.

With an increasing number of functions in portable products like digital still cameras and mobile phones and a strong demand for smaller and thinner profiles, the need for fewer parts and reduced mounting surfaces is growing.

This latest 3D SIP from Sharp stacks multiple ICs at a ball pitch of 0.5-mm, thus allowing for drastic reduction in mounting surface.

In the first use of this technology, Sharp has mounted a compact 3D SIP of DSP, flash memory, and SDRAM at a ball pitch of 0.5 mm. Compared to the 2-package stack, formerly the industry norm, mounting surface has been reduced by 42%, contributing to digital still cameras that are lighter and thinner.

LR38683
Applicable devices: DSP, 32Mb flash memory, 256Mb SDRAM X 2
Start of sample shipment: End of June 2005

LR38682
Applicable devices: DSP, 32Mb flash memory, 256Mb SDRAM X 1
Start of mass-production: July 2005

Main Features
1. 0.5-mm ball pitch for an approximate 42% reduction in mounting space This 3D SIP makes it possible to stack DSP, flash memory, and SDRAM in one package.

2. Conducive to flexible system design
This new technology makes it possible to put logic and memory ICs in the same package, something difficult to do with previous SIP technology. As well, it?s possible to change the memory configuration depending on the needs of the system, such as the number of pixels of the CCD.