Samsung started manufacturing chips using its brand new 5nm EUV technology a couple of months ago, but that doesn't mean the company is not improving its older technologies. Earlier today, the South Korean tech giant said that its new X-Cube chip packaging technology, which offers faster speeds and better power efficiency at the same time, is now ready to use.
The company's contract chip manufacturing arm, Samsung Foundry, has completed the production of test chips using the X-Cube (or Extended Cube) technology. The new 3D integrated circuit chip packaging technology is now available to manufacture 7nm chips. It allows ultra-thin stacking of multiple chips to make a more compact logic semiconductor. The process uses through-silicon via (TSV) technology for vertical electrical connection instead of using wires.
Samsung claims that chip designers can use its X-Cube technology to design custom chips that are best suited to their unique needs. Thanks to the TSV technology, the signal paths between different stacks in a chip are significantly reduced, increasing the data transfer speeds and energy efficiency. Various logic blocks, memory, and storage chips can be stacked on top of one another to create more compact silicon packages.
The company says that this technology will be used in 5G, AI (artificial intelligence), AR (augmented reality), HPC (high-performance computing), mobile, and VR (virtual reality) segments. Samsung Foundry will showcase its new technology during the Hot Chips 2020 expo, which runs from August 18 to August 20. It is also working on improving the 5nm process and skipping 4nm to develop 3nm technology for the near future.
