Overview

The Institute for Advanced Micro-System Integration (IMSI) was founded in December 1997 by ten Japanese semiconductor companies as Japan's first industry-academia collaborative organization in the field of electronic packaging. Its mission is to establish packaging technology as a systematic engineering discipline and to develop and disseminate technologies that can become global standards. Since its first term (FY1997-1999), IMSI has continued its activities in terms of two to three years and is now in its 13th term (from FY2026).

Through industry-academia collaboration with the University of Tokyo and Meisei University, IMSI has developed integrated design technologies for ultra-high-speed signal transmission and ultra-compact practical systems, as well as next-generation bonding technologies such as room-temperature bonding and bumpless interconnects, resulting in more than 30 patent applications. From November 1998 to October 2005, IMSI funded an endowed chair in packaging engineering at the University of Tokyo, which offered lectures, invited leading researchers from abroad and dispatched researchers and students, thereby fostering human resources and international exchange.

In June 2016, IMSI was reorganized as a general incorporated association to strengthen industry-academia-government collaboration, respond to globalization and clarify its governance. Through these activities, IMSI aims to disseminate fundamental packaging technologies as global standards and to contribute to manufacturing industries in Japan.

Building on the packaging technologies accumulated in Japan, IMSI aims to establish them as an engineering discipline and, through collaboration among industry, academia and government, to define concretely the packaging technologies best suited to the electronics industry in a sustainable, recycling-oriented society of the 21st century. By disseminating technologies that can become global standards, IMSI seeks to contribute to the development of the electronics industry and, ultimately, to the world economy and the well-being of humanity.

To achieve these objectives, IMSI conducts the following activities:
(1) Research on packaging technologies and their engineering systematization
(2) Research on promoting the development of packaging technologies
(3) Other research related to packaging technologies

To produce leading-edge research results, IMSI has operated two working groups since its foundation: WG1 (High-Speed Signal Transmission) and WG2 (Room-Temperature Bonding). Through more than 300 research meetings, they proposed ultra-high-speed signal transmission systems and bumpless interconnects based on room-temperature bonding, studied the underlying element technologies and developed them for practical applications. IMSI completed integrated design technologies for ultra-high-speed signal transmission and ultra-compact practical systems targeting next-generation matrix device packaging, and has developed applications that build on its pioneering achievements in room-temperature bonding and bumpless interconnects.

In 2015, IMSI established WG3 (Power Modules) to address power electronics, a field of growing importance. Together with WG2, which promotes room-temperature bonding for manufacturing not only semiconductor devices but also optical and energy devices, WG3 carries out pioneering research, led by the University of Tokyo and member companies, on the structures, packaging, manufacturing and sensing technologies that power modules will require five to ten years from now, as well as on making these modules intelligent. IMSI now plays a leading role in discussions on the future of power electronics packaging in Japan, Europe and the United States.

In 2021, the activities of the 191st Committee on Innovative Interface Bonding Technology of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) were transferred to IMSI's Committee on Innovative Interface Bonding Technology (LTB-3D Research Group). Through the International Workshop on Low Temperature Bonding for 3D Integration (LTB-3D), which the LTB-3D Research Group has organized biennially since 2007, IMSI has strengthened its ties with Europe and the United States, and now collaborates widely with overseas research institutions and organizations such as Fraunhofer IZM (Germany) and CEA-Leti (France).