New IPC-6921 Standard Sets Requirements and Acceptance Criteria for Organic IC Substrates

The Global Electronics Association has officially released IPC-6921, Requirements and Acceptance for Organic IC Substrates.

This IPC standard clearly defines product qualification, performance requirements, and acceptance criteria for organic integrated circuit (IC) substrates, providing a unified and internationally referenceable technical specification for the packaging industry across key application areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing (HPC), and automotive electronics.

Three Years of Global Technical Collaboration
The IPC-6921 task group, established in 2022, was co-chaired by Greatech Substrates Co., Ltd. and Lockheed Martin Space Systems staff who guided the technical direction and development of the standard.

The group brought together 246 technical experts from across the global IC substrate value chain, including representatives from AT&S, Amkor, JCET, SanDisk, and other leading organizations.

Participants included original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), outsourced semiconductor assembly and test providers (OSATs), IC substrate manufacturers, material suppliers, third-party test laboratories, and research institutions. Over three years, the task group completed multiple rounds of technical review and industry consultation, reflecting broad international participation.

Scope and Acceptance Criteria
IPC-6921 covers two primary organic IC substrate types: wire-bonding substrates and flip-chip substrates. The standard defines requirements and acceptance criteria across design, manufacturing, quality control, and reliability.

For visual inspection, IPC-6921 provides extensive photographic examples illustrating target conditions, acceptable conditions, and defect conditions observable on internal and external substrate features. Acceptance criteria distinguish critical functional areas, recognizing that identical anomalies may have different acceptance requirements depending on location.

Key functional areas include strip side rails, base material areas, solder mask regions, wire-bond pads, surface mount (SMT) pads, ball grid array (BGA) pads, die-attach areas, C4 bumps, acoustic holes, fiducial marks, and molding gate regions.

Performance and Reliability Requirements
IPC-6921 establishes requirements for critical technical characteristics, including:
• Surface finish and plating/coating
• Dimensional tolerances across substrate features
• Conductor, via, and structural integrity quality
• Electrical, mechanical, and environmental reliability
• Acceptance test frequency and quality conformance

These requirements guide the design and manufacture of organic IC substrates for high-density and high-reliability applications, including HPC, AI, data centers, and automotive electronics.

Supporting Advanced Packaging Adoption
With rapid growth in AI, 5G/6G communications, and electric vehicles, demand for advanced semiconductor packaging continues to accelerate.

Sydney Xiao, president of Global Electronics Association East Asia stated, "Organic IC substrates are the critical interface between chips and systems, and their quality and reliability directly impact end-product performance. By establishing unified technical understanding and acceptance criteria, IPC-6921 provides an essential foundation for scalable adoption of advanced packaging technologies."

Upcoming Webinar
To support industry understanding of IPC-6921, Global Electronics Association IPC China will host a webinar on February 5, 2026, titled: "IPC-6921: Requirements and Acceptance for Organic IC Substrates." The webinar will cover the standard framework, core technical requirements, and typical acceptance scenarios, with interactive discussion on key industry concerns. For more information, visit: www.ipc.org.cn/webinar.