Hanwha Semitek to Launch 'Hybrid Bonder' Early Next Year

Essential 'Game Changer' for Next-Generation HBM Manufacturing
"Preparing for Customer Evaluation in the First Quarter of Next Year"

Hanwha Semitek has announced plans to launch a hybrid bonder early next year. The company aims to secure market leadership by introducing advanced packaging equipment essential for the development of next-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM). The hybrid bonder is expected to be a game changer in the semiconductor industry, as it significantly enhances both the performance and production efficiency of semiconductors.

On September 10, at 'SEMICON Taiwan 2025' held in Taipei, Taiwan, Hanwha Semitek unveiled its roadmap for the development of next-generation advanced semiconductor packaging equipment, including plans for a hybrid bonder. According to the development roadmap, the company plans to release the fluxless bonder 'SFM5 Expert+' and the hybrid bonder 'SHB2 Nano' early next year. Previously, Hanwha Semitek launched the TC bonder 'SFM5 Expert' last year and the chip-on-wafer (CoW) multi-chip bonder 'SFM5 TnR' this year.

View of the Hanwha Semitech booth at 'Semicon Taiwan 2025' held on the 10th in Taipei, Taiwan. Hanwha Semitech

The hybrid bonder, which is attracting significant attention in the semiconductor equipment market, is expected to greatly improve the performance and production efficiency of HBM. Currently, the TC bonder, mainly used in HBM manufacturing, bonds chips by applying heat and pressure to bumps (conductive protrusions such as solder). The hybrid bonder, however, can attach chips without the need for bumps, making it an essential piece of equipment for manufacturing high-stacked chips with more than 20 layers. The absence of bumps also reduces electrical signal loss, thereby improving chip performance.

For hybrid bonders, it is crucial to prevent gaps during the bonding process between metals and non-metals. The second-generation hybrid bonder equipment to be introduced by Hanwha Semitek is capable of precision alignment with a positional error margin at the 0.1μm (micrometer) level during bonding. This ultra-precision bonding technology is one-thousandth the thickness of a human hair (about 100μm).

Park Youngmin, Head of the Semiconductor Equipment Division at Hanwha Semitek, stated, "We successfully supplied the first-generation hybrid bonder equipment in 2022," adding, "We are preparing the second-generation equipment currently under development so that it can be evaluated by customers in the first quarter of next year."

Hanwha Semitech's Advanced Semiconductor Packaging Equipment Development Roadmap. Hanwha Semitech

Hanwha Semitek has been achieving consecutive results in the semiconductor packaging equipment market with its unrivaled technological capabilities. This year, the company signed a supply contract for TC bonder equipment worth approximately 80.5 billion won with SK Hynix, which stands out as a representative achievement.

This large-scale contract was achieved just five years after starting TC bonder development in 2020, and is seen as recognition of both Hanwha Semitek's technological prowess and stable supply capabilities. In the second quarter of this year, the company's semiconductor-related sales increased more than fifteenfold compared to the same period last year. Hanwha Semitek is especially focusing on the development of new technologies and making substantial investments. In the first half of this year, the company invested about 30 billion won in semiconductor-related research and development (R&D), a 40% increase from the previous year. This amount also rose to 15% of sales during the same period. Recently, Hanwha Semitek established the 'Advanced Packaging Equipment Development Center,' an organization dedicated to semiconductor equipment development, to increase its technical workforce, and also opened a new 'Advanced Packaging Technology Center' in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province.

A Hanwha Semitek representative commented, "As a relatively late entrant to the market, developing innovative technology is the most important factor for securing a unique competitive edge," adding, "We will continue to focus all our efforts on differentiated technology development going forward."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.