On August 25, Japan DNP has set a target date for the mass production of glass substrates for semiconductor packaging in 2027. DNP is known for monopolizing the market for fine metal masks (FMM) for OLED.
DNP announced in March that it has developed a glass-core substrate (GCS) focused on next-generation semiconductor packaging. At the time, DNP was looking to replace traditional resin substrates with glass substrates, such as flip-chip (FC) -ball grid Array (BGA), a high value-added semiconductor substrate.
I'm learned. In the semiconductor packaging glass substrate market, SKC subsidiary Absolix was the first to enter the market and held a groundbreaking ceremony for the plant in Covington, Georgia, USA, in November last year. Absolix aims to complete the plant, the world's first mass production facility for semiconductor packaged glass substrates, by the end of this year, and begin mass production next year. Absolix has been producing glass substrate samples at a test line in Gumi, Gyeongsangbuk-do, South Korea.
Absolix's semiconductor packaging glass substrate
So far, among semiconductor companies, Intel has also officially announced that it will apply glass substrates. While the number of companies intending to manufacture glass substrates has increased to Absolix and DNP, Taiwan's Xinxing Technology is also said to be considering entering the market. Absolix expects the semiconductor packaging market for high-performance computing (HPC) to grow rapidly due to the rapid growth in data processing volumes such as artificial intelligence (AI) and data center servers. It is understood that Absolix and DNP are currently targeting different glass substrate applications.
Absolix's semiconductor package glass substrate (left) and DNP's semiconductor Package glass substrate (right) (Source: Absolix, DNP)
In the future, the market penetration of glass substrates produced by Absolix and DNP is expected to influence the trend of traditional semiconductor substrate manufacturers. It is expected that while Samsung Electric, LG Innotek, Japan Ibiden and other traditional semiconductor substrate manufacturers continue to promote the glass substrate market, they will consider the technological development level and market penetration rate of resin and glass substrates to decide whether to enter the glass substrate market. The existing business is based on resin substrates.
Industry insiders predict that glass substrates will be superior to resin substrates in forming microcircuits smaller than 2um. At the same time, there are also views that the performance of the resin substrate can be improved to a certain extent. However, if the requirements for semiconductor substrate microcircuits drop to the 1um level due to the miniaturization of chip processes, the demand for glass substrates may increase. At this point, it is expected that the entire semiconductor manufacturing cost will also be taken into account. This is because the glass substrate is thinner and has the advantage of forming fine circuits, but it is difficult to control and the unit price is higher.
Absolix emphasizes that due to the hardness of the glass substrate, the warping phenomenon seen in existing organic material substrates can be reduced. Compared to existing resin substrates using organic materials, glass substrates can reduce package thickness and power consumption by half. The substrates of high value-added computers such as servers are becoming more and more high-performance and large-area, which is conducive to the thinning of products.
Absolix is targeting potential customers including Intel, Nvidia, AMD, Broadcom and Cobo. It is understood that Absolix has no plans to supply semiconductor packaging glass substrates to the group's affiliates SK Hynix or Samsung Electronics. Absolix will first invest 240 million dollars in the Covington plant by 2024, including Samsung Electric (1.9 trillion won), LG Innotek (413 billion won) and Daedeok Electronics (400 billion won).
At the same time, Absolix and DNP use glass substrate technology from the Georgia Institute of Technology Packaging Research Center (GT PRC). GT PRC has been developing the glass substrate concept since 2009. Absolix's Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Kim Seong-jin is also from GT PRC. Cto Seongjin Kim, who previously worked at Amco and Daeduck Electronics, is currently leading the development of glass substrate technology at Absolix. It is understood that personnel from Samsung Electric, Daeduck Electronics and Korea Circuit Corporation have joined Absolix along with Chief Technology Officer Seong-jin Kim. In addition, CTO Kim Seong-jin last year transferred patents for his invention of "substrate including lead structure, package substrate and semiconductor device including lead structure" to the company.
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