Fabrication conditions for high-aspect-ratio MNs by the photopolymerization of PEGDA were investigated. The influence of prepolymer molecular weight and the degree of UV absorption by the photoinitiator (PI) were studied to optimize the conditions.

The mechanical reliability of glass substrates is a key challenge for their adoption in advanced semiconductor packaging. This study employs finite element analysis to systematically evaluate the risk of edge crack propagation in large glass panels during redistribution layer (RDL) fabrication. The influence of critical factors—including crack location, number of RDLs, glass material and thickness, dielectric ABF properties, Cu content, and edge clearance—was examined. Results revealed that top-edge crack near the RDL/glass interface pose the highest failure risk due to elevated peeling stress and increased energy release rate (ERR). The risk of propagation intensifies with more RDLs and thinner glass, while high CTE (coefficients of thermal expansion) glasses such as D263, Gorilla, and ceramic glass markedly suppress crack growth compared with borofloat 33 and fused silica. Among ABF dielectrics, GZ-41 demonstrated superior crack resistance owing to its low CTE and moderate stiffness. Although higher Cu content slightly reduced ERR, its effect remained limited. Edge clearance strongly affects reliability, with ≥300 µm providing effective suppression of crack propagation. These findings provide quantitative design guidelines for glass interposer structures, emphasizing the optimization of dielectric material selection, glass substrate and thickness, and layout constraints such as edge clearance. The proposed methodology and results will contribute to establishing reliable strategies for deploying ultra-thin glass panels in advanced semiconductor packaging.

Wicking in porous media, such as the spreading of ink on paper or the absorption of moisture by fabric, occurs when water interacts with hydrophilic porous materials through capillary action and evaporation. The directional nature of the wicking phenomenon can be leveraged for various advanced applications, including enhanced heat transfer, colorimetric devices, energy harvesting, and microfluidics. Herein, crack generation is used to induce the anisotropic wicking of water on isolated mesoporous strips. The strips are fabricated by transforming isotropic cracks into anisotropic ones in micropyramid arrays using the Poisson effect in elastomeric blocks. Stretching an elastomeric block increases the period of a pyramid array along one direction while decreasing it in the perpendicular direction because of elastomer shrinkage. This amplifies the difference in the notch angles of pyramidal edges between parallel and perpendicular directions relative to the stretching axis. Consequently, the disparity in notch angles leads to preferential crack generation owing to elevated stress localization on the sharpened notches. Directional wicking is demonstrated using anisotropic strips of mesoporous TiO₂ colloidal films and highly anisotropic wicking of ink is illustrated by coating hydrophobic films on mesoporous strips. The anisotropic wicking observed in cracked mesoporous strips can serve as 1D microfluidic channels.