Elpida Memory Inc., Powertech Technology Inc. (PTI), and United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE: UMC; TSE: 2303) ("UMC"), recently announced that they have finalized the 3-way tie-up to deliver 3DIC integration technologies for advanced processes including 28 nanometer (nm). UMC and PTI engineers have already been working with Elpida on joint development of TSV products at Elpida's Hiroshima Plant. This collaboration leverages the strengths of Elpida's DRAM, PTI's assembly, and UMC's foundry logic technologies to develop a one-chip 3D IC Logic+DRAM integration solution.
By now it must be obvious to all that a major change in the strategies of the semiconductor memory companies is well under way. We have seen the development of new memory applications such as Enterprise SSDs replacing DRAMs in servers, arrival of new well-funded memory startups such as Adesto, expansion of suppliers into existing applications such as GSI’s recently announced support of Low Latency DRAM, expansion of the number of high-volume standardized memory interfaces such as Low Power and Wide-I/O DRAM, a broader array of large organizations investing in the research of new memory technologies such as IMEC and some state-supported research organizations, as well as the recent arrival of well-funded new investors such as RUSNANO.
What has been missing to the outside observer has been the reason why anyone would want to invest that much effort to supersede commodity products.
Elpida’s announcement completes the grand strategy of which we have been advising our semiconductor and investment clients over the past two years. In a series of reports we began releasing over a year ago, we have described the future impact of TSV and 3D IC logic+memory integration solutions, the phases of development that will accompany this shift, and the significant role that will be played by new and emerging memory technologies.
System-in-Package (SiP) solutions are now solidly on the ITRS roadmap and are accorded the same potential future significance as Moore’s Law. There are certainly additional SiP manufacturing challenges to be solved, but clearly none that are significantly more challenging than the announced conversion of microprocessor production to 3-D FinFET technologies, or the traditional decline in cost-per-bit of DRAM and NAND as lithographies scale below 20nm.
Makimoto’s Wave, the market forces first observed by the former CTO of Hitachi’s semiconductor operation, describes periodic shifts in the emphasis of technology development from an emphasis on standardization to customization of technology development. In this transition from larger box-level computing devices toward smaller mobile and personalized computing devices, SiP can often offer greater product flexibility and faster time-to-market than other solutions.
Within that structure, the richness of new performance attributes from new and emerging memory technologies contributes to a higher level of the total system-level value.
