Last June, AMD released a new generation of graphics card, Radeon™ R9 Fury X, dedicated to PC gaming applications and including High-Bandwidth Memories (HBM).
The “More than Moore” market research and strategy consulting company, Yole Développement (Yole) announces a complete 3D & 2.5D packaging analysis & costing report focused on the HBM integrated on chip led by AMD and its partners SK Hynix. Performed by Yole’s sister company, System Plus Consulting (System Plus) this full reverse costing study has been conducted to provide graphics market insight on technology data, manufacturing cost and selling price. With this new analysis, System Plus Consulting and Yole propose a complete physical overview of the packaging process, with details on all technical choices regarding process and equipment (wafer bonding, via etching, via filling, bumping, underfill…) and materials.
AMD’s 3D & 2.5D component integrates HBM such as DRAM dies & logic dies connected with via-middle Through-Silicon-Via (TSV) and micro-bumps as well as GPU stacked onto a silicon interposer including also via-middle TSV. According to AMD, this HBM component delivers 60% more memory bandwidth, 3 x the performance per watt and consumes 94% less PCB area than GDDR5.
Last year, in its 3D IC report entitled 3DIC & 2.5D TSV Interconnect for Advanced Packaging 2014 Business Update (Yole Développement, October 2014), Yole already announced the starts of high volume production. “3D TSV is finally becoming a reality in the memory industry,” says Thibault Buisson, Technology & Market Analyst, Advanced Packaging at Yole. Indeed several memory makers announced the volume production this year, to meet the needs of high performance computing and servers applications. According to Buisson, the memory market is driven by the need to increase performance such as higher bandwidth, faster speed and smaller/thinner packages.
The reverse costing process includes the component’s disassembling, the identification of related manufacturing technologies and the calculation of manufacturing costs. System Plus started its activities in 1993. Its analysts have analyzed hundreds of integrated circuits, modules, electronic boards and systems. Based on their technical expertise and their knowledge of the semiconductor industry, they has developed a dedicated reverse costing methodology.
“In this new report, System Plus identified the complete manufacturing supply chain dedicated to the AMD’s HBM chip. This supply chain includes GPU foundry, interposer foundry, HBM foundry, PCB substrate manufacturer and OSAT product integrator”, explains Romain Fraux, System Plus. And he adds: “At System Plus, we develop a dedicated “build-in” methodology allowing us to detail the manufacturing process steps with all related manufacturing cost calculation.”
System Plus’ report also features a comparison with Samsung 3D TSV DRAM stacking process. This analysis gives an overview and a comprehensive understanding of the different technology choices made by the different companies, all along the supply chain.
A detailed description of AMD Radeon R9 Fury X reverse costing & technical analysis is available on i-micronews website, advanced packaging report section.
