What if chips could be stacked without bumps? 🤔Hybrid bonding could reshape next-generation #HBM# by connecting chips without bumps, enabling denser connections, faster signal transmission, and better heat dissipation.
🔗
#SKhynix# #HybridBonding#
- Hybrid bonding reduces chip-to-chip pitch below 1µm versus 20µm for microbumps, enabling higher connection density and bandwidth critical for AI systems.
- Technology already commercialized in CIS sensors, NAND flash, and logic ($AMD V-Cache); SK hynix targeting 400+ layer NAND with hybrid bonding by 2027.
- Hybrid bonding delivers 11.9x speed, 100x+ heat dissipation, and 15x integration density improvements over TCB, becoming foundational for HBM and AI accelerators.
Hybrid bonding is transitioning from niche sensor/logic applications to foundational HBM and AI accelerator packaging technology, with sub-1µm pitches enabling the 3D stacking architectures required for next-generation AI infrastructure.
Hybrid bonding is becoming increasingly important for next-generation 3D NAND and HBM.
This workflow shows why the process is much more than simply “bonding two dies together.”
It involves temporary bonding, wafer thinning, protection layers, precision dicing, die pick-and-place, hybrid bonding, and final debonding/cleaning.
As HBM moves toward higher stack counts and tighter interconnect pitches, wafer handling, temporary bonding/debonding, surface preparation, alignment accuracy, and yield control will become increasingly critical.
Advanced packaging is becoming a full process ecosystem of its own.
"We expect the shift to 3D for Nvidia Feynman, AWS Trainium, and Google V9 (Broadcom).
Capacity Surge: We forecast TSMC SoIC capacity to be 15KPM and 35KPM by end of 2026 and 2027."
Music to my ears
TSMC Holds at Microbumps for HBM, Deferring Hybrid Bonding CapEx
Vik: I am bearish hybrid bonding at least for HBM applications. High stacks are too expensive, and hardware makers won’t bite into it.
At Hot Chips, SK Hynix confirmed hybrid bonding won't hit HBM4E. It's pushed to HBM5 (~2029-30).
Not because the tech failed, it's proven since 2010 in image sensors. It's because bonding 16+ memory layers in a row is far harder than bonding one, and a JEDEC height rule just bought more time for the old method.
More details here in my article: