AMD has beengranted a patent(12080632) that covers glass core substrate tech. Glass substrates will replace traditional organic substrates for multi-chiplet processors in the coming years. The patent not only means AMD has worked on appropriate technologies extensively but will enable the company to use glass substrates in the future without risks that a patent troll or competitors could sue it.
Most chipmakers,including IntelandSamsung, are exploring glass substrates for future processors. Although AMD no longer produces its own chips, instead subcontracting them out to TSMC, it still has silicon and chip production research and development operations as the company customizes process technologies offered by its partners to build its products.
Glass substrates are made from materials like borosilicate, quartz, and fused silica, which provide notable benefits compared to traditional organic materials as they feature exceptional flatness, dimensional stability, and superior thermal and mechanical stability. Superior flatness and dimensional stability can improve lithography focus for ultra-dense interconnects in advanced system-in-packages, whereas superior thermal and mechanical stability makes them more reliable for high-temperature, heavy-duty applications like data center processors.
One of the challenges when working with glass substrates is the implementation of Through Glass Vias (TGVs), according to the AMD patent. TGVs are vertical pathways created within the glass core to transmit data signals and power. Techniques such as laser drilling, wet etching, and magnetic self-assembly are utilized to produce these vias, but for now, laser drilling and magnetic self-assembly are fairly novel technologies.
Redistribution layers — which route signals and power between the chip and external components using high-density interconnections — are another integral component of advanced chip packages. Unlike main glass core substrates, these will continue to use organic dielectric materials and copper; only this time will they be constructed on one side of the glass wafer, requiring a new production method.
The patent also describes a method for bonding multiple glass substrates using copper-based bonding (instead of traditional solder bumps) to ensure strong, gap-free connections. This approach enhances reliability and eliminates the need for underfill materials, making it suitable for stacking multiple substrates.
While AMD's patents clearly state that glass substrates offer such benefits as better thermal management, mechanical strength, and improved signal routing capabilities, which are advantages for data center processors, the patent implies that glass substrates could be applied to a variety of applications requiring high-density interconnections, including data center, mobile devices, computing systems, and even advanced sensors, which seems a bit overkill.
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Anton Shilov
Contributing Writer
Anton Shilov is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.
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12 CommentsComment from the forums
jp7189 I'd like to here more about laser drilling in glass that sounds cool. I got a christmas gift one year from an applied materials lab of a 3d scene inside a glass cube with thousands of dots. I was told they were created by the interaction of multiple lasers intersecting inside the glass cube. I never understood how that worked though.
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Chiller2U "AMD has been granted a patent (12080632) that covers glass core substrate tech. Glass substrates will replace traditional organic substrates for multi-chiplet processors in the coming years. The patent not only means AMD has worked on appropriate technologies extensively but will enable the company to use glass substrates in the future without risks that a patent troll or competitors could sue it. "
Hi, friendly patent attorney here. Sorry, but this is all very much incorrect. Filing and/or receiving a patent does not necessarily mean a company has worked extensively on the underlying technology, as there is no requirement to build the technology out before filing a patent. More importantly, receiving a patent does not mean you cannot also infringe someone else's patent. A patent only grants the right to exclude others from practicing your patented invention, but does not even grant you the right to practice your own invention. People patent improvements to someone else's patented technology all the time, but doing so does not give them any right to practice the other person's existing patented technology.
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Hooda Thunkett jp7189 said:
I'd like to here more about laser drilling in glass that sounds cool. I got a christmas gift one year from an applied materials lab of a 3d scene inside a glass cube with thousands of dots. I was told they were created by the interaction of multiple lasers intersecting inside the glass cube. I never understood how that worked though.Oh! Basically they're using multiple lasers of a frequency that can heat the glass, each one putting out a fraction of the power necessary to crack it. Where those lasers cross in the glass, together they have the energy in that spot to create a tiny crack, and that's what you see as the white dot. Do that a lot of times and you create an image.
At least, that's how it was explained to me.Reply
King Anfalas This is not a big deal. SiC will overtake and eliminate the need to develop glass substrates, this is why AMD is granting access. Sell it now before it becomes obsolete..
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TJ Hooker King Anfalas said:
This is not a big deal. SiC will overtake and eliminate the need to develop glass substrates, this is why AMD is granting access. Sell it now before it becomes obsolete..?
This article is about the patent being to granted to AMD, not about them granting or leasing that IP to anyone else. AMD isn't selling anything here.
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Steve Nord_ Chiller2U said:
"AMD has been granted a patent (12080632) that covers glass core substrate tech. Glass substrates will replace traditional organic substrates for multi-chiplet processors in the coming years. The patent not only means AMD has worked on appropriate technologies extensively but will enable the company to use glass substrates in the future without risks that a patent troll or competitors could sue it. "Hi, friendly patent attorney here. Sorry, but this is all very much incorrect. Filing and/or receiving a patent does not necessarily mean a company has worked extensively on the underlying technology, as there is no requirement to build the technology out before filing a patent. More importantly, receiving a patent does not mean you cannot also infringe someone else's patent. A patent only grants the right to exclude others from practicing your patented invention, but does not even grant you the right to practice your own invention. People patent improvements to someone else's patented technology all the time, but doing so does not give them any right to practice the other person's existing patented technology.
So why bother, other than feeding postdocs to hiring readiness, which seems important? MADish merit or participation points? Getting not docked $nation_set incentives?
All in favor of having 10s to 100s of npu right on the facial/fingerprint recognition camera/s, maybe throw a tdfs (time division fluorescence spectrometer) and other optical processing faculties that way.
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Mama Changa Hooda Thunkett said:
Oh! Basically they're using multiple lasers of a frequency that can heat the glass, each one putting out a fraction of the power necessary to crack it. Where those lasers cross in the glass, together they have the energy in that spot to create a tiny crack, and that's what you see as the white dot. Do that a lot of times and you create an image.
At least, that's how it was explained to me.Basically interference in action. If the beams don't add in phase there won't be enough energy to melt the glass.
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jp7189 Hooda Thunkett said:
Oh! Basically they're using multiple lasers of a frequency that can heat the glass, each one putting out a fraction of the power necessary to crack it. Where those lasers cross in the glass, together they have the energy in that spot to create a tiny crack, and that's what you see as the white dot. Do that a lot of times and you create an image.
At least, that's how it was explained to me.Thanks! That method doesn't sound like it would work well for tiny tgv holes that go all the way through. I wonder how they'll make thousands of tiny holes with dimensional accuracy without breaking the whole thing.
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eric79xxl Hooda Thunkett said:
Oh! Basically they're using multiple lasers of a frequency that can heat the glass, each one putting out a fraction of the power necessary to crack it. Where those lasers cross in the glass, together they have the energy in that spot to create a tiny crack, and that's what you see as the white dot. Do that a lot of times and you create an image.
At least, that's how it was explained to me.Correct. There is also a cancer treatment that uses the same concept, with x-rays and another with gamma rays.
In both cases, as in the glass etching, each individual beam isn't enough to cause harm in their own, but the point where all the beams intersect will cause cellular disruption.
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eric79xxl jp7189 said:
Thanks! That method doesn't sound like it would work well for tiny tgv holes that go all the way through. I wonder how they'll make thousands of tiny holes with dimensional accuracy without breaking the whole thing.Extremely precise mapping, measuring, and targeting. It took them a decade to get from concept to safe application for using this method for cancer treatment.
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