PCBAIR has announced the launch of its advanced eight-layer glass core printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing capabilities, integrating proprietary Through Glass Via (TGV) technology with multi-layer redistribution layers. The company claims these new glass substrates provide superior signal integrity and thermal stability, specifically addressing interconnect density bottlenecks found in traditional organic substrates utilized in artificial intelligence (AI) platforms and high-performance computing (HPC) environments.
The eight-layer glass core PCBs are designed for high-speed data center servers, AI accelerators, and optical transceivers. According to PCBAIR, the technology supports finer line widths and spacing, with pilot production and customer sampling now in progress.
PCBAIR reports key technical advances developed for this high-density interconnect solution:
- Precision Through Glass Via (TGV) Technology: TGV diameters measure less than 20 micrometers with a pitch below 100 micrometers, which the company says increases input/output density when compared to standard organic substrates and improves vertical signal transmission between chiplets.
- Optimized 8-Layer Stack-Up: A symmetric build-up structure (such as 3-2-3 or 4-core-4) manages internal stress and ensures flatness, addressing common warpage issues in large organic packages during reflow. This flatness is especially significant for assembling large AI chipsets.
- Electrical Performance: The glass core delivers a dielectric loss factor (Df) of less than 0.002, enabling a reported 15 to 20 percent improvement in signal transmission efficiency for high-frequency applications, such as 112G and 224G Serializer/Deserializer (SerDes) links.
- Thermal Management: The coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of the glass core aligns closely with silicon dies. This reduces joint stress during thermal cycling, improving device reliability.
According to PCBAIR, these glass core PCB improvements allow chip designers to overcome current packaging limits and achieve better performance scaling without the escalating costs associated with silicon interposers.
“We are proud to introduce our 8-layer Glass Core PCB capabilities, marking a practical step forward in advanced packaging,” said Victor Zhang, chief technology officer of PCBAIR. “By moving from organic to glass cores, we are providing a stable foundation for the industry’s most demanding compute workloads, maintaining the precision and reliability our partners expect.”
PCBAIR notes its glass core PCBs are compatible with existing substrate assembly lines, easing adoption for customers. The company offers a turnkey solution for manufacturing and assembly of glass substrates, aiming to mitigate supply chain risks for global clients.
Source: PCBAIR
