Corning eyes leadership in glass substrate market for chips

Corning is looking to expand its presence in the burgeoning glass substrate market for semiconductors, using its special proprietary technologies, the company's president in charge of Korea operation said Wednesday.

Speaking at his first press conference here after assuming his role as the president of Corning's Korea Region last November, Vaughn Hall also presented the company's new initiative window glasses, introducing the lighter, energy-efficient ATG Glass.

"I have high expectations on future growth of glass substrates, which appears to hold a competitive edge over the organic material substrates widely used in the current chip packaging process. The advantages include dimensional stability, form factor flexibility and other mechanical properties," Hall said during the press conference dubbed “Wonders of Glass” in Seoul.

Corning currently supplies two glass substrate products that go into chip production, a temporary carrier for interposer in processors and one used in wafer thinning in DRAM chips.

In the future, the glassmaker is preparing to introduce glass cores for application of the glass product in chip packaging. The company is providing samples to multiple potential customers, Hall explained.

The glass substrate for wafer thinning in DRAM chips would be used multiple times before it is completely exhausted. But the envisioned glass core substrate would stay with the entire chipset, Hall explained.

"An entire packaged chip would have a single piece of glass, and this means more pieces of glass go into the chipset," Hall said, hinting at the potential growth of the demand in the future. Starting mass production of the product would depend on demands from the end-users.

"That’s potentially the future that could happen and that’s the market we want to tap into."

Hall also highlighted Corning’s close partnership with global chipmakers, and how his company supplies core materials and components for almost every stage of the semiconductor chip manufacturing process.

Hall also presented the company's new initiative in glass products for advanced windows, introducing the ATG Glass, which is designed 10 percent more energy efficient, and 30 percent lighter than the conventional standard pane of soda lime glass widely used.

"This is something maybe most people didn't know. But (ATG Glass) is part of the new initiative that we haven't been in before, but are starting in," Hall said.

The new glass product is less than a millimeter thick and with a smaller footprint. It can be integrated into window designs as a center-pane of glass, in place of a standard pane of soda lime glass.

It is currently in the Korean market and two of its biggest projects include the Ramada Hotel in Ulleungdo, and Chungdam Raon Private Residential Space, the president added.