Infineon Technologies has developed a new technology to connect and
package stacked integrated circuit chips in order to speed up chip
performance while reducing costs.
Researchers at the German semiconductor company have developed a
soldering method called solid liquid interdiffusion (SOLID), which
allows multiple chips to be combined in one package to create a
single product.
"In a nutshell, the SOLID technique allows us to increase the
complexity of chips so that we can add more functions and
applications and do this more cost efficiently," a company
spokesman said. "The technology will also play a role in delivering
systems that provide greater security."
At present, Infineon is using the technology to develop a prototype
smart card controller, expected to be completed in the second half
of 2003. Current smart card controller products combine both a
logic chip and a memory chip on a single planar surface, limiting
memory capacity typically to 32Kbytes. The prototype controller
that Infineon is developing based on SOLID technology will have
160Kbytes of nonvolatile memory "or enough to run a version of the
Linux operating system software," a spokesman said.
Infineon has yet to decide whether it will license the technology
to other manufacturers.
In all semiconductor-based applications, such as mobile phones,
multiple chips exchange electronic signals using fine wires laid
out precisely on printed circuit boards. The longer the lines
between the adjacent chips, the more time an electrical signal
takes to travel. This makes design more complex and can slow down
performance.
Additionally, the number of possible circuit wires is limited in a
tiny space. As chips become more complex, their wiring becomes more
difficult and consequently it becomes more expensive to implement
applications that require high frequencies, such as communication
technology.
With SOLID technology, the tracks between the contacts are much
shorter, according to Infineon. A SOLID product can achieve clock
rates of up to 200GHz, or 100 times faster than today's fastest
desktop PC processors, and thus support more communication lines
between the chips in the package.
Compared to existing chip systems, a SOLID product can pack
hundreds of times the number of connections into the same space,
Infineon said. For instance, a chip that is manufactured with the
SOLID process requires up to 50% less space than conventional
products with the same functionality on chips arranged side by
side.
The new technology is suitable for almost any semiconductor
application, from chips for handsets to those for industrial and
automotive systems. It can reduce costs for manufacturing existing
products by up to 30% through the more effective use of production
facilities, the company said.