SK hynix Revolutionizes Mobile DRAM with Advanced Heat Dissipation for On-Device AI

SK hynix Begins Supplying Mobile DRAM With 3.5x Better Thermal Conductivity, Solving Performance Throttling For On-Device AI & More

Smartphone DRAM and memory manufacturers are researching towards launching faster and more efficient chips to excel in the use of on-device AI applications and to offset the performance throttling issues encountered by the current technology. SK hynix, which has surpassed Samsung in the technological aspect of memory manufacturing, has said that it has begun supplying a newer form of mobile DRAM that adopts an industry-first 'Molding Compound' that is designed to tackle overheating in smartphones. The company claims the latest memory chips' thermal conductivity has improved by 350 percent. The new material used on SK hynix's mobile DRAM is called 'High-K Epoxy Molding Compound' With the improvements highlighted by SK hynix on its latest mobile DRAM, the company says that the thermal resistance in the heat's vertical source has improved by 47 percent. On some logic boards, the mobile DRAM is stacked on top of the chipset die, and during intense workloads, the excess heat can cause performance degradation. The majority of smartphone makers opt for this design because it frees up space and improves data transfer between the DRAM and the chipset, as there is less distance for that data to travel. With the new material, SK hynix says that smartphones equipped with these memory chips are expected to deliver better battery life while improving performance. The company's head of Package Product Development, Lee Gyu-jei calls the use of High-K Epoxy Molding Compound a 'meaningful achievement' and states that this approach will address many of the problems that flagship smartphone users faced. "It's a meaningful achievement that goes beyond a simple performance improvement as it addresses the inconvenience that many high-performance smartphone users may have had. We are committed to firmly establishing our technological leadership in the next-generation mobile DRAM market with our technological innovation in materials." According to The Korea Herald, SK hynix says that it found the solution to improving thermal conductivity by adding Alumina to Silica. By adding the newer compound to Epoxy Molding Compound, it was able to achieve better heat transfer. There is no specific timeline for when we will see these mobile DRAM chips in action, but we will not be surprised if 2026 flagship smartphones are found to be using this technology.

SK hynix Inc. Starts Supplying Mobile Dram with Highly Efficient Heat Dissipation

SK hynix Inc. announced that it has started supplying mobile DRAM products with highly efficient heat dissipation by adoption the High-K Epoxy Molding Compound material for the first time in the industry. EMC(Epoxy Molding Compound): a critical material for semiconductor packaging that protects chips from various external conditions such as water, heat, impact and electronic charge and provides a channel where heat can be dissipated. High-K EMC raises thermal conductivity with adoption of a material with high heat-transfer coefficient in EMC. The development comes as heat generated in the process of fast data transfer for on-device AI applications results in performance degradation of smartphones. Global smartphone companies welcome the launch of the product on expectations that it will help address the heat issue of high-performance smartphones. The structure of package on package, or PoP, that most smartphones adopt and stacks DRAM onto the application processor, allows efficient use of limited space, while improving data transfer speed. Such system, however, also triggers a performance degradation of the device itself as heat generated within the mobile AP stays inside DRAM. PoP (Package on Package): a packaging method commonly used for mobile products. Different types of chips are stacked vertically to improve space efficiency, performance and flexibility of combinations. Mobile AP(Application Processor): chip referred to the brain of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. SK hynix found the solution in improvement of thermal conductivity of EMC, a critical material that covers DRAM package and developed High-K EMC by adding Alumina to Silica, which has been adopted for EMC material so far. With thermal conductivity improved by 3.5 times and thermal resistance in the vertical course of the heat improved by 47%, the new technology is expected to contribute to a longer battery runtime and product lifespan by improving performance of a smartphone and reducing power consumption.