The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, better known as TSMC, is holding its 24th annual Technology Symposium in Santa Clara right now, and it’s just unveiled a process that could spell a revolution for graphics cards: Wafer-on-Wafer (WoW) technology.
As the name suggests, WoW works by stacking layers vertically rather than placing them horizontally across a board, much like how 3D NAND flash memory is stacked in modern solid-state drives. What this means is more powerful GPUs for Nvidia and AMD without the need to increase their physical size or shrink the fabrication process.
The back-to-back wafers make contact with each other through the use of 10-micron holes that form a through-silicon via (TSV) connection. TSMC partner Cadence explains that WoW designs can be placed onto an interposer—an electrical interface that routes one connection to another—creating a 2-die cube. It’s even possible to vertically stack more than two wafers using the WoW method.
Read more: TSMC’s stacked wafer tech could double the power of Nvidia and AMD GPUs
thumbnail courtesy of techspot.com
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