After being founded in 1990, Tessera became a leader in integrated circuit (IC) packaging with its transformational Tessera Compliant Chip® (TCC) chip-scale packaging (CSP) technology. This innovative technology, which has been widely adopted by the semiconductor industry, enables the packaging of an IC to be approximately the same size as the IC itself. The company continues to develop breakthrough solutions in this arena, most recently applying its unique packaging expertise to 3D flip-chip and package-on-package technology, high-density substrates and silent air cooling technology.

In 2005, Tessera expanded on its CSP expertise by investing in wafer-level CSP solutions for image sensors. Over the last four years, Tessera has made a series of strategic acquisitions and advancements, furthering its position in the imaging and optics markets.

Tessera started as a manufacturer of semiconductor packaging. Once the company realized that its core value was in the development of its innovative packaging technology, it began licensing the rights to its packaging solutions and partnering with industry-leading semiconductor manufacturers to enable the creation of next-generation electronic products.

Through its strategic expansion into imaging and optics, Tessera has been able to realize the opportunities generated by new products and technologies. To ensure its ability to continue to offer solutions that would meet industry demand for smaller, faster, more feature-rich electronics, the company expanded upon its business model. Today, Tessera invests in and licenses its technologies, as well as delivers products based on these technologies, to promote the development of the supply chain infrastructure. This allows industry-leading manufacturers to get the right product to market, at the right time.

To help enable the supply chain, Tessera’s business model has expanded to include Product Launch Services. Through these Services, the company delivers state-of-the-art imaging products – such as its single-element VGA lens – directly to cell phone camera module manufacturers. Tessera’s Product Launch Services help the company work even more closely with individual members of the cell phone supply chain as they ramp up to produce high-volume quantities of solutions based on its OptiML wafer-level optics technology.

Tessera invests in and develops miniaturization technologies that enable new levels of innovation in electronics, optics and imaging. The company delivers scalable solutions, and continues to anticipate and successfully address market demand for smaller, higher-performing electronic products at lower cost.

• Micro-electronics – semiconductor packaging technologies encompassing interconnect and substrates, and thermal management solutions, including:
• TCC (Tessera Compliant Chip^®) technology
• µPILR™ interconnect platform
• µBGA^® family of lead- and wire-bonded chip-scale packages (CSPs)
• µZ^® Multi-Chip Package (MCP) technology
• Imaging and optics - OptiML™ family of wafer-level camera, compact camera module (CCM) and specialty optics solutions:
• Image enhancement solutions, from software to silicon to optics
• Wafer-level technologies, ranging from wafer-level packaging to wafer-level optics
• Micro-optic solutions including diffractive optical elements (DOEs), refractive optical elements (ROEs) and integrated micro-optical subassemblies (IMOS)

A semiconductor package is the physical and electrical interface between a semiconductor chip and the system in which it operates. In the early 1990s, Tessera’s founders invented fundamental packaging technology which is now widely used throughout the semiconductor industry. The company’s innovations include its visionary μBGA® solution, the industry’s first CSP technology, which incorporates the Tessera Compliant Chip (TCC) technology. The µBGA CSP family enables a very short electrical path between the die and the module or printed circuit board (PCB), which allows the package to deliver performance that meets the requirements of memory such as high-performance DRAM.

Tessera continues to innovate and expand upon these technologies. The company’s µPILR™ solution is an advanced packaging solution designed to overcome technical limitations of interconnect, packaging and substrate technologies such as pitch, profile, performance, reliability and test capacity. Tessera’s extensive research and development efforts focus on electronic product miniaturization from a system perspective, specifically through the dense interconnection of components and extensive use of three-dimensional and advanced substrate packaging technologies.

Tessera continues to invest in its relationships with leading substrate vendors, and dedicates resources to new developments in silent air cooling technology. Both the company’s silent air cooling technology, and its packaging and interconnect solutions are gaining market attention.

Advancements in imaging and optics technologies are enabling significantly higher quality images in considerably smaller digital still cameras and other camera-enabled devices including cell phones, security systems and personal computers (PCs). Tessera’s OptiML portfolio of technologies and products, from wafer-level image sensor packaging, to wafer-level optics and lenses, to optical and embedded image enhancement and MEMS solutions, help meet growing consumer demand for smaller size, lower cost and greater functionality to provide more capabilities in electronic devices:

• OptiML Wafer-Level Optics technology advances integration of miniaturized cameras in cell phones, PCs, security devices and other electronics. The technology enables cameras to be manufactured at the wafer level, drastically reducing camera module size and cost. The technology is reflow compatible, which enables camera modules to go through high heat soldering of up to 200 degrees Celsius without damage. In addition to licensing this technology, Tessera offers single-element VGA lenses based on this technology.
  
  
• OptiML image enhancement technologies improve the quality of captured images, offering a range of capabilities from advanced photo and video image processing to high-quality focus and zoom. From embedded software, to silicon modules, to combined software and optics solutions, these innovative technologies offer superior price / performance and reliability for very small form factor camera modules.
  
  
• OptiML Micro Via Pad technology is a wafer-level chip scale packaging (CSP) solution which makes it possible to create image sensors that are thinner, more reliable and less expensive. The end result is improved device functionality and increased PCB capacity, enabling the next generation of smaller, smarter, faster electronic devices.
  
  
• OptiML micro-optics are high-performance, highly efficient optical solutions which are customized for semiconductor equipment, photonic systems and communication technologies. From diffractive optical elements (DOEs) to refractive optical elements (ROEs) to integrated micro-optic subassemblies (IMOS), these innovative micro-optic elements meet the industry’s ever-increasing demands for optical precision and reliability.
  
  

Tessera, the Tessera logo, Tessera Compliant Chip, OptiML, µBGA and µPILR, are trademarks or registered trademarks of Tessera, Inc. or its affiliated companies in the United States and other countries. All other company, brand and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.