Intel releases tiny EMIB that assist chips to ‘talk’ with each other

Intel unveiled its Embedded Multi-die Interconnect Bridge (EMIBs) chips that speed the flow of data inside nearly 1 million laptops and field programmable gate array devices worldwide. That number will soon soar and include more products as EMIB technology enters the mainstream. 

EMIB is a cost-effective approach to in-package high density interconnect of heterogeneous chips. It delivers a complex multi-layered sliver of silicon no bigger than a grain of rice, and lets chips fling enormous quantities of data back and forth among adjoining chips at blinding speeds: several gigabytes per second.

The industry refers to this application as 2.5D package integration. Instead of using a large silicon interposer typically found in other 2.5D approaches, EMIB uses a very small bridge die, with multiple routing layers. This bridge die is embedded as part of the substrate fabrication process.

For example, Intel’s Ponte Vecchio processor, a general-purpose GPU the company unveiled this month, contains EMIB silicon.

To meet customers’ unique needs, this innovative technology allows chip architects to cobble together specialized chips faster than ever. And compared with an older, competing design called an interposer — in which chips inside a package sit atop what is essentially a single electronic baseboard, with each chip plugged into it — tiny, flexible, cost-effective EMIB silicon offers an 85 percent increase in bandwidth. That can make tech — laptop, server, 5G processor, graphics card— run faster, and next-generation EMIB could double or even triple that bandwidth.

The silicon interposer in a typical 2.5D package is a piece of silicon larger-than-all interconnecting die. In contrast, the silicon bridge is a small piece of silicon embedded only under the edges of two interconnecting die. This allows for most size die to be attached in multiple dimensions, eliminating additional physical constraints on heterogeneous die attachment within the theoretical limits.

The image shows a difficult yet desirable layout. The industry standard 2.5D solution cannot accommodate this, as the silicon interposer cannot be produced large enough to connect all the die. Yet EMIB allows for the flexibility in this die placement, allowing scaling in both dimensions.

Cree and STMicroelectronics boost existing silicon carbide wafer supply agreement

Cree and STMicroelectronics announced expansion and extension of an existing multi-year, long-term silicon carbide wafer supply agreement to more than US$500 million. The extended agreement is a doubling in value of the original agreement for the supply of Cree’s advanced 150mm silicon carbide bare and epitaxial wafers to STMicroelectronics over the next several years, the companies announced Tuesday. 

The increased wafer supply enables the semiconductor leaders to address the rapidly growing demand for silicon carbide power devices globally, particularly in automotive and industrial applications.

The adoption of silicon carbide-based power solutions is rapidly growing across the automotive market as the industry seeks to accelerate its move from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles, enabling greater system efficiencies that result in electric cars with longer range and faster charging, while reducing cost, lowering weight and conserving space. In the industrial market, silicon carbide modules enable smaller, lighter and more cost-effective inverters, converting energy more efficiently to unlock new clean energy applications.

“Expanding our long-term wafer supply agreement with Cree will increase the flexibility of our global silicon carbide substrate supply,” said Jean-Marc Chery, president and CEO of STMicroelectronics. “It will further contribute to securing the required volume of substrate we need to manufacture our silicon carbide-based products as we ramp up production over the next years for the increasing number of programs won at automotive and industrial customers.”

“Silicon carbide delivers performance enhancements that are critical to electric vehicles and a host of next-generation industrial solutions for solar, energy storage and UPS systems,” said Gregg Lowe, CEO of Cree. “Cree remains committed to leading the semiconductor industry’s transition from silicon to silicon carbide, and the extension of the agreement with ST ensures we are able to meet the accelerating, global demand for this solution across a diverse range of applications while accelerating the market.”