Some Good News! - Investment in the First Through-Silicon Via Foundry, ALLVIA, Inc., Grows to $25 Million with Next Round of Funding

ALLVIA, the first through-silicon via (TSV) foundry, has secured $5 million from private investors in its next round of funding to expand manufacturing facilities and to build more capacity. This brings the total funding invested in the company to $25 million.

Driven by the need for improved performance and the reduction of timing delays in integrated circuits, TSV technology uses short vertical interconnects to replace the long interconnects found in 2-D structures. 3-D with TSV options include stacked wafer, die on wafers, or die-on-die structures.

ALLVIA has been producing TSVs for over five years, providing development work for advanced vertical interconnects and System-in-Package (SiP) solutions. For the past three years the company has generated revenue with its TSV work. With in-house processing equipment, a long history of intellectual property (IP) and a fabrication facility in Sunnyvale, California, ALLVIA offers prototyping services and volume production runs.

Through-Silicon Vias (TSV)

“For the past five years we have been developing the reliability data, the costing and the manufacturability parameters of through-silicon vias,” commented Sergey Savastiouk, CEO of ALLVIA. “Those three elements are the keys to transporting TSVs from niche to volume production. We will use the new funding to expand this work by building more capacity in our manufacturing facilities. What we see in the marketplace is that some companies which started their own TSV development some time ago find it difficult to continue development in this downturn environment and they are coming to ALLVIA to benefit from existing operations.”

Flip Chip Comparison

“As a technology TSVs are going through a similar life cycle as flip chips,” commented Savastiouk. “Flip chips were first developed in the 1960s by IBM. But it took decades to develop the feasibility, reliability, cost effectiveness and manufacturability to get them into volume production. TSV has passed the feasibility phase, but reliability and manufacturability figures, and most importantly, those applications that are willing to pay for the technology, are still being determined.”

About ALLVIA

Located in Silicon Valley, ALLVIA is the first Through-silicon via (TSV) foundry and introduced the term “through-silicon via” in both a 1997 business plan and a January 2000 technical article. With the full spectrum of facilities, IP and equipment, ALLVIA offers services for prototyping and full volume production of both front side and back side TSVs to the MEMS and semiconductor industries as well as silicon etching, copper plating, photolithography, CMP, etc. www.allvia.com