Draper’s new Advanced Packaging Facility is part of an effort to increase manufacturing capacity of microelectronics and accelerate the transition to an open foundry service model. (Image courtesy Getty)
As domestic interest in advanced packaging surges, Draper’s new center increases capacity to meet escalating national demand.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—Draper is working toward the future of application-unique microelectronics product development with the creation of the Draper Advanced Packaging Facility to enable faster designing and building of microelectronic components, the company said in a release.
The new facility in St. Petersburg, Florida, is said to highlight Draper’s established capabilities in three-dimensional heterogeneously integrated (3DHi) microsystems. These microsystems enable the stacking of separately manufactured components into a single package and deliver advanced security, high precision, high accuracy, and peak performance in harsh environments, according to Draper.
Each year, Draper’s facilities design, produce, test, and ship microelectronics to the Defense Department and commercial customers. The new facility is a Defense Microelectronics Activity (DMEA)-certified, trusted foundry manufacturing center.
“In answering our customers’ call for secure, mission-unique microelectronics solutions, we’ve created an advanced packaging facility that drives high-mix production of heterogenous microchips, invites production runs from open foundry customers, and contributes to the nation’s supply of defense-grade microelectronics,” said Draper President and CEO Jerry M. Wohletz, Ph.D., in a statement. “It also provides our teams with the onshore manufacturing resources they need to continue delivering products impactful to the Draper mission.”
Domestic interest in advanced chip packaging is growing. Intel Foundry recently unveiled its U.S. Military, Aerospace, and Government (USMAG) Alliance, which Draper joined. The Defense Department, through the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), similarly called for the establishment of a domestic research and development center for fabrication of three-dimensional heterogeneously integrated (3DHi) microsystems. Draper’s advanced packaging center was funded in part by a $10 million award from the Defense Production Act (DPA) Title III office provided in 2021 to expand capacity.
The result is an open-access production facility accessible by stakeholders to holistically address the design, packaging, assembly, and testing of 3DHi prototypes and products. Heterogeneous integration enables early architecture exploration, rapid software development and system validation, efficient die and package co-design, robust die-to-die connectivity, and improved manufacturing and reliability.
“Our fabrication facility is a trusted partner to the U.S. government community because it is dedicated to the design, creation, and implementation of vital technologies, such as 3DHi, which creates technology differentiation needed for mission success,” said Sarah Leeper, vice president and general manager of Draper’s Electronic Systems, in the release. “3DHi fills a unique need for the Department of Defense where mission customization and quick end-item component and manufacturing process iteration that are inherent of advanced packaging provide the flexibility not offered by high-performance standard chip design.”
The application areas essential to long-term national leadership include those for secure- and safety-critical applications and harsh environments. These applications require designing capabilities into microelectronics that are beyond the need of typical consumer electronics, computer and peripheral equipment, and IoT products.
A new ecosystem is growing up around the ever-increasing variety of chiplets, which perform highly specialized functions and work together to meet the unique requirements of a given application. This arrangement enables customized packaging of different components that perform specific functions—including memory, logic, optoelectronics, communication, and smart sensing—to meet any set of requirements, the release said.
Draper’s new Advanced Packaging Facility adds to recent announcements by the company to extend its long-running leadership in the defense sector’s electronics ecosystem. In March, Draper announced a partnership with the University of Massachusetts at Lowell to establish a center of research and innovation in electronic systems at the university. In 2023, Draper opened a campus in Odon, Indiana to serve customers in the defense sector, including the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division.
“Like the national security customers we serve, Draper’s employees are mission-driven,” said Don Benzing, program and campus manager for Draper at St. Petersburg, in the release. “The new advanced packaging fabrication facility will support future growth in microelectronics.”
As a nonprofit engineering innovation company, Draper serves the nation’s interests and security needs. The company is dedicated to advancing technologies at the intersection of government, academia and industry; cultivating the next generation of innovators; and solving the most complex challenges. Its multidisciplinary teams, drawn from a broad and deep talent pool of 1,300 engineers and scientists, collaborate to develop first-of-a-kind solutions, the company said.