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.