For the Daily Press: Infineon`s Innovative "Chip-Sandwich" Potentially Increases Memory Capacity More Than a Hundredfold by Just Doubling Chip Area, Enabling New Applications for Mobile Phones and Smart Cards

Nov 2, 2004 | Market News

Munich, Germany – November 2, 2004 – For the first time ever, using an innovative “chip-sandwich” technique that involves face-to-face interconnection, the semiconductor manufacturer Infineon Technologies AG (FSE/NYSE: IFX) has shown it possible to design chips for smart cards that offer more than 100 times the memory capacity of today’s chip cards, while just doubling chip area. The new chips are for use in mobile communications and other applications, where increased memory is a major asset.

The new Infineon method entails placing two integrated circuits one on top of the other with their functional sides “face-to-face” - akin to a sandwich in which two buttered slices of bread are laid on top of each other, with the buttered sides facing each other. Without extra-wirebonding, the chips - for example a security microcontroller and a memory chip - are mechanically and electrically interconnected via hundreds of tiny contact pads on the chips’ surfaces. This multiplies the storage capacity of the microcontroller chips without increasing the die area. At the same time, it makes chip design more flexible and shortens development times.

The first chips, in which a security controller and a memory module are superimposed on each other, provide 1 megabyte (MB) of memory, eight times more storage space than what is currently possible. The new chips will initially be used for SIM cards in mobile phones, where the demand for additional memory capacity is greatest, because of SMS and MMS messages and increased address book entries. First samples of the new chip are scheduled to be available as early as the spring of next year. The face-to-face process is then expected to go into mass production in the second half of 2005. Infineon currently supplies one in three SIM card chips worldwide.

A SIM card with 100 times more storage capacity

The area available for the integrated circuit on smartcards and SIM cards is limited to a maximum of 25 square millimeters. Infineon’s conjoined “face-to-face” chips will in future be capable of accommodating up to 20 megabytes of memory on just twice the area on which a maximum of 1 megabyte fits today. These 20 MB, which offer more than 100 times the memory capacity of today’s smartcard chips, are scheduled to be available starting the second half of 2006.

The growing popularity of multimedia services and the ability to transfer large amounts of data via UMTS make SIM cards with a large memory capacity especially attractive to mobile communications providers, as they enable them to offer their customers additional services such as expanded address books in which images can also be stored. The novel sandwich chips also provide enough space for security programs that make electronic reservations and payments, for example, programs that book theater tickets and entire trips, and for individualized information services such as stock exchange reports. Furthermore, sandwich chips will enable mobile phones to integrate additional electronic applications, such as the secure storage of confidential emails, which until now have been technically impossible to implement.

In other smartcard applications, the large memory sandwich chips could make access cards even more secure by allowing a whole range of additional information to be stored, including biometric data of the persons with access authorization.

About Infineon

Infineon Technologies AG, Munich, Germany, offers semiconductor and system solutions for the automotive and industrial sectors, for applications in the wired communications markets, secure mobile solutions as well as memory products. With a global presence, Infineon operates in the US from San Jose, CA, in the Asia-Pacific region from Singapore and in Japan from Tokyo. In fiscal year 2003 (ending September), the company achieved sales of Euro 6.15 billion with about 32,300 employees worldwide. Infineon is listed on the DAX index of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker symbol: IFX). Further information is available at www.infineon.com.

Information Number

INFSMS200411.012

Press Photos

  • The face-to-face technology places two integrated circuits with their functional sides one on top of the other. Without extra-wirebonding, the chips are mechanically and electrically interconnected.
    The face-to-face technology places two integrated circuits with their functional sides one on top of the other. Without extra-wirebonding, the chips are mechanically and electrically interconnected.
    Press Photo (german version)

    JPG | 188 kb | 1535 x 1063 px

    Press Photo (german version)

    JPG | 7 kb | 160 x 111 px

  • The face-to-face technology places two integrated circuits with their functional sides one on top of the other. Without extra-wirebonding, the chips are mechanically and electrically interconnected.
    The face-to-face technology places two integrated circuits with their functional sides one on top of the other. Without extra-wirebonding, the chips are mechanically and electrically interconnected.
    Press Photo (english version)

    JPG | 179 kb | 1535 x 1063 px

    Press Photo (english version)

    JPG | 7 kb | 160 x 111 px