In recent years, we have seen how the price of components continues to increase. This process of price increases is directly proportional to the use of advanced manufacturing processes, which are increasingly complex and expensive.
Many manufacturers are working to innovate the processes for building chip designs. New transistor designs, new additive materials, and a wide range of different options are being sought. SK Hynix is the latest to announce changes to chip design processes.
SK Hynix seeks to reduce costs with new manufacturing processes
Do you know the Crucial brand that sells RAM and SSD memories? Well, this popular brand is the business division of SK Hynix, which offers solutions based on its memory chips.
This memory chip maker is having a problem with current manufacturing designs. SK Hynix says manufacturing costs with extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography are rising. The way to reduce manufacturing costs and potentially lower product prices is to find other ways to make them.
They offer several options, although the design that is gaining the most traction is the 4F2 DRAM. Such a design is known in the industry as VCT DRAM or VG DRAM (vertical channel transistor), where the cells have a vertical design.
In this design, the source, gate, drain, and capacitor have a vertical stack. The word and bit lines connect to the gate and source, respectively. According to SK Hynix, this design reduces the area by about 30% compared to the vertical 6F2 DRAM design. They would start using this design after the 0nm node.
Micron, Samsung, and SK Hynix plan to manufacture DRAMs using the 1cnm process between 2024 and 2025. The next-generation node, called 1dnm, will use new EUV multiple exposure techniques. This process could significantly increase manufacturing costs because it is a more complex process.
Seo Jae-Wook, a researcher at SK-Hynix, said that VG or 3D DRAM design can reduce the associated costs by half compared to conventional 6F2 DRAM design under EUV lithography. In addition, VG DRAM could keep the costs fixed for one or two process generations. After this period, EUV costs are expected to increase significantly.
Changing the manufacturing process is not exactly easy. Moving to this 3D DRAM structure is not easy and will not be cheap, as it requires a significant investment in deposition and etching equipment.
It seems obvious that this is a temporary fix for the upcoming sharp increase in manufacturing costs. This increase in costs will translate into an increase in the final price of the product. Now, how long will the constant increase in hardware prices be sustainable?
