With hybrid bonding making the news for becoming the preferred choice of bonding for next-generation memory chips, a relaxation of standards by the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC) could lead to Samsung and SK hynix skipping the technology for HBM4 memory, suggests a report from the Korean press. The previous standards had determined that next-generation HBM memory would have a thickness of 900 micrometers, but the new standards could mean that the thickness is relaxed to 1,000 micrometers.
Relaxed Standards Could Lead Manufacturers To Skip Hybrid Bonding For Next-Generation HBM, Says Report
Word about SK hynix being interested in hybrid bonded surfaced in April when a report claimed that the Korean company had verified a 12-stack HBM chip with hybrid bonding and was expected to start production with the technology with its HBM4 memory chips.
Hybrid bonding is being developed in response to the needs of next-generation memory chips, which require more DRAM layers. While traditional HBM chips rely on heat bonding, which places an underfil and bumps under each DRAM chip, and then uses heat and pressure to bond the stack.
According to today's report, courtesy of ZDNet, Samsung and SK hynix might skip hybrid bonding when it comes to HBM4 chips and start using the technology with HBM4E instead.
ZDNet repeats its earlier report about the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC) considering increasing the HBM thickness standard as the reason behind the shift in strategy from Samsung and SK hynix.
In March, the publication had reported that the organization was considering increasing the thickness definition of a HBM4 stack to 825 micrometers to 900 micrometers from the current 775 micrometers. In this report, it adds that for HBM5, the thickness standard could be relaxed from the current 900 micrometers to 1,000 micrometers. It adds that since big-ticket customers such as NVIDIA have pushed back their demand for high-stack HBM, Samsung and SK hynix are further incentivized to delay the technology's introduction.
ZDNet quotes a source as saying that discussions for 16-layer HBM stacks are inactive and therefore even HBM4E products could stay at 12 layers.
In the meantime, the two companies are interested in using heat dissipation devices to gain the cooling advantages offered by hybrid bonding. Hybrid bonding improves heat dissipation since it removes the underfil, which acts as a heat insulator. ZDNet's sources add that due to the growth in input-output terminals with HBM5E, hybrid bonding will have to be used when the chips are produced.
About the author: Ramish is a seasoned technology writer and editor with more than a decade of experience. He specializes in semiconductor fabrication and market analysis. With a background in finance and supply chain management - via his bachelors in Finance and a micromasters in supply chain management from MIT - Ramish combines financial rigor with deep industry insight to deliver accurate and authoritative coverage.
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