Samsung unveils 2.5D chip packaging tech for high-end products

South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co. has unveiled a new chip packaging technology, called H-Cube, which stacks high-performance chips in much smaller sizes.

The tech giant said on Thursday its latest 2.5D semiconductor chip packaging technology is now available for clients in artificial intelligence (AI), data center, high-performance computing (HPC) and networking products that require high-performance, large-area packaging.

Samsung Electronics developed the technology in collaboration with Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co. and Amkor Technology Inc., the world’s No. 2 chip packaging company.

With increasing computing power and storage needs, semiconductor chips tend to become larger in size, but Samsung’s H-Cube can fit more in a smaller area and offer compact solutions, it said.

To develop the technology, Samsung said it used a hybrid substrate with a fine-pitch substrate and high-density interconnection (HDI) to fit large sizes into 2.5D packaging.

The packaging allows logic chips or high-bandwidth memory (HBM) to be stacked on top of a silicon interposer in a small form factor, according to Samsung.

It said the technology can fit six HBM chips into a compact area, compared to four under the current packaging technology.

IN COMPETITION WITH TSMC

“By expanding and enriching the foundry ecosystem, we will provide various packaging solutions to find a breakthrough in the challenges our customers face,” said Kang Moonsoo, senior vice president and head of foundry marketing strategy at Samsung.

The announcement comes as Samsung aims to be at the forefront of the packaging industry to gain a fresh edge against Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), a major competitor in the ultra-fine processing segment.

Packaging technology can help enhance semiconductor performance without having to shrink the nanometer through ultra-fine processing, which is technologically challenging and requires more time.

Write to Su-Bin Lee at lsb@hankyung.com
In-Soo Nam edited this article.