GlobalFoundries announces 3D chip stacking for 20nm and more sophisticated processes

April 27, 2012-GlobalFoundries announced today that the company has reached an important milestone on the way to 3D chip stacks for the next generation of mobile and consumer electronics applications. Fab 8,globalfoundries, located in Saratoga Gashir, New York, USA, has begun to install a special production tool for the construction of silicon through-hole (TSV) in a semiconductor wafer on a cutting-edge 20 nm technology platform. The move will enable customers to stack multiple chips, providing a new channel to meet high-end requirements for future electronic devices.

TSV, that is, etching the vertical aperture in silicon and filling it with copper to achieve the conduction between vertically stacked integrated circuits. For example, the technology allows circuit designers to stack memory chips on top of the application processor, reducing power consumption while achieving a significant increase in memory bandwidth, and thus address this major challenge in the design of a new generation of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.

The use of integrated circuit 3D stacking technology at cutting-edge technology nodes is now increasingly seen as a traditional alternative to scaling down at the transistor level using technology nodes. However, with the advent of new packaging technology, the complexity of chip and encapsulation interaction significantly improved, wafer foundry and its partners increasingly difficult to provide "end-to-end" solution to meet the needs of many cutting-edge design.

GlobalFoundries chief technology officer Gregg Bartlett said: "To help address these challenges on the new Silicon technology node, we have been working with our partners to develop packaged solutions that support the next wave of innovation in the semiconductor industry." By adopting a wide range of collaborative approaches, we are able to offer our customers the greatest choice and flexibility, while at the same time working to save costs, accelerate production time, and reduce the technical risks associated with new technology development. The TSV tool that installs 20nm technology in Fab 8 will add an important capability to the globalfoundries, from design to assembly and testing, so that our cooperation with many companies in the semiconductor ecosystem in research and development would benefit. ”

GlobalFoundries's latest Fab 8 is one of the world's most technologically advanced wafer-foundry plants and the largest cutting-edge semiconductor foundry in the United States. The plant is focused on 32/28nm and smaller-scale cutting-edge manufacturing, and 20nm technology development is progressing smoothly. The first full stream chip using TSV is expected to begin production in Fab 8 in the third quarter of 2012.