SK hynix announced on the 28th that it has developed a high-thermal conductivity mobile DRAM product applying 'High-K EMC' materials, becoming the first in the industry to do so, and has begun supplying it to customers.
EMC is an essential material in semiconductor processing that seals and protects semiconductors from various external environments such as moisture, heat, shock, and charge, while also acting as a pathway for heat dissipation. High-K EMC is characterized by the use of high thermal conductivity coefficient (K) materials in EMC to increase thermal conductivity.
SK hynix noted, "The heat generated during high-speed data processing for on-device artificial intelligence (AI) implementation is becoming a major cause of smartphone performance degradation," and added, "This product has solved the heat issue for high-spec flagship smartphones."
Latest flagship smartphones apply a method of stacking DRAM on top of the mobile application processor (AP). This structure effectively utilizes limited space and increases data processing speed, but the heat generated from the mobile AP accumulates inside the DRAM, causing overall smartphone performance degradation. To address this issue, SK hynix focused on enhancing the thermal conductivity of EMC, a key material that wraps the DRAM package.
As a result, a new material called High-K EMC, which combines alumina with the silica previously used as the material for EMC, was developed. This increased thermal conductivity significantly to 3.5 times that of the existing level and improved the thermal resistance of the pathway for heat moving vertically by 47%. The enhanced heat dissipation performance contributes to extending battery life and product lifespan through improved smartphone performance and reduced power consumption.
Lee Gyu-je, vice president in charge of PKG product development at SK hynix, said, "This product has great significance in contributing to the resolution of inconveniences faced by high-performance smartphone users, beyond simple performance improvement," and added, "We will firmly establish our technological leadership in the next-generation mobile DRAM market based on innovation in material technology."