Reports Indicate That SK Hynix is Developing New Technology“AIP” to Reduce NAND Manufacturing Costs

According to Korean media reports, SK Hynix is developing an innovative technology called "AIP (All-In-Plug)" to mitigate cost increases caused by the rising number of stacked layers. It is reported that the increasing number of HARC etching processes required to achieve high-layer NAND is the primary factor driving up manufacturing costs. Traditional manufacturing methods require etching multiple NAND layers separately and then connecting them through bonding processes. However, AIP can perform HARC etching on high-density NAND flash with over 300 layers in a single process, which is aim to significantly reduce manufacturing costs by etching all NAND layers at once. If this innovative technology is applied to mass production, it is expected that the number of HARC processes and associated costs will be substantially reduced starting from the next generation of NAND flash (e.g. V11).