We enable the next-generation capacitors

Mini­atur­ized integ­rated cir­cuit pack­aging types are dif­fer­ent types of pro­tect­ive pack­ages that isol­ate semi­con­duct­or com­pon­ents from the effects of phys­ic­al impact and cor­ro­sion. There are sev­er­al types of integ­rated cir­cuit pack­ages, and they become more com­plex in archi­tec­ture the smal­ler they get. 

In 1970, chip man­u­fac­tur­ers man­aged to fit 1,000 tran­sist­ors per chip. Today, over 50 bil­lion have been squeezed in – on a chip the size of a thumb­nail. And this devel­op­ment only con­tin­ues, as more data must be pro­cessed at the same or faster pace. In addi­tion, more func­tions are added on the chip, all while the space in these mini­atur­ized pack­aging types remains the same – or decreases. This devel­op­ment also requires that the capa­cit­ors take up less space and that they can be placed closer to the act­ive chip – and at the same time have the same or bet­ter performance. 

More com­plex chips require a new gen­er­a­tion of capa­cit­ors
New advanced chips con­sist of sev­er­al sys­tems. These chips have more fea­tures and bet­ter per­form­ance. To secure the power sup­ply in these tightly mini­atur­ized cir­cuits and reduce losses in the sys­tems – which is essen­tial for the over­all increases in per­form­ance – the capa­cit­ors must be extremely small and thin, so that they can be placed closer to the pro­cessor than is cur­rently possible. 

This is exactly what Smol­tek is devel­op­ing – a new capa­cit­or tech­no­logy that meets the semi­con­duct­or industry’s demands for next-gen­er­a­tion capa­cit­ors. Our tech­no­logy offers sev­er­al prop­er­ties that are cru­cial for the devel­op­ment of the new capa­cit­or gen­er­a­tion. Among oth­er things, extremely high capa­cit­ance per unit area and extremely low elec­tric­al losses. The capa­cit­ors can also be placed in dir­ect con­nec­tion to the sys­tems they are to support.

The bene­fit for you and me is that we get more and bet­ter func­tions in the mobile phone.

Regards, Smol­tek CNF-MIM capa­cit­or technology

CNF-MIM – Next-gen capa­cit­ors
Based on our pro­pri­et­ary nan­o­tech­no­logy plat­form we have developed a new capa­cit­or tech­no­logy that ful­fills the demands of high-per­form­ance applic­a­tion pro­cessors for the mobile phone mar­ket. We call the product line CNF-MIM – Car­bon Nano Fiber-Met­al Insu­lat­or Met­al capa­cit­ors – a new breed of capa­cit­ors that offers unpar­alleled met­rics for decoup­ling capa­cit­ors. And that fits in the increas­ingly con­fined spaces of next-gen semi­con­duct­or chips.

Today, we at Smol­tek are alone in the world to offer a car­bon nan­ofiber tech­no­logy that enables the com­bin­a­tion of extremely high elec­tric­al per­form­ance in an extremely mini­atur­ized capa­cit­or device. 

Håkan Persson, CEO of Smoltek

The decoup­ling capa­cit­or explained
A decoup­ling capa­cit­or is used in elec­tron­ic devices to reduce high fre­quency noise and dis­turb­ances in the power sup­ply. It is a key device in e.g., applic­a­tion pro­cessors (like the main pro­cessor in a mobile phone). How­ever, to reduce losses at high fre­quen­cies, it is import­ant to be able to place the capa­cit­or as close to the act­ive chip as pos­sible, which requires both extreme thin­ness and high capa­cit­ance dens­ity (which simply explained can be said to be the horsepower of the capacitor).

Our tech­no­logy makes it pos­sible to place the capa­cit­or closer to the pro­cessor, which in turn reduces the losses in the sys­tem and enables bet­ter per­form­ance in the next gen­er­a­tion chip. 

Håkan Persson explains

For the chip man­u­fac­tur­ers, the bene­fit of Smol­tek’s tech­no­logy is that they can place the capa­cit­ors closer to the act­ive chip and thus reduce the losses in the sys­tem. The CNF-MIM tech­no­logy also enables flex­ib­il­ity for the chip man­u­fac­tur­ers, partly in terms of the per­form­ance para­met­ers they want, partly in terms of how they can design the capa­cit­or com­pon­ent in their sys­tem as the tech­no­logy has no restric­tions regard­ing com­pat­ible materials. 

The bene­fit for you and me is that we get more and bet­ter func­tions in the mobile phone.

Mar­ket for CNF-MIM capa­cit­ors
Smol­tek’s CNF-MIM capa­cit­ors mainly com­pete with sil­ic­on-based so-called trench capa­cit­ors. Smol­tek uses the sub­strate to grow the fibers on top, unlike the com­pet­it­ors who use the sub­strate to etch the act­ive area. In oth­er words, Smol­tek has an addit­ive and the com­pet­it­ors a sub­tract­ive pro­cess leav­ing them with the require­ment of using the sub­strate to increase a lar­ger act­ive area. 

Our CNF-MIM tech­no­logy has the poten­tial to offer an ultra-thin capa­cit­or with the same, or high­er, capa­cit­ance dens­ity at a lower cost than our competitors.

Håkan Persson conludes

And as stated, at the IMAPS Device Pack­aging Con­fer­ence in Phoenix, Ari­zona, on March 3, 2020: 

The single most import­ant ques­tion for semi­con­duct­or pack­ages for mobile phones is: How thin can we make it?

Chris­ti­an Hoff­mann, Prin­cip­al Engin­eer at Qualcomm

Put in con­text, this means that the con­tin­ued mini­atur­iz­a­tion of semi­con­duct­or pack­ages needs much thin­ner capa­cit­ors com­pared to what today’s con­ven­tion­al tech­no­logy can handle.