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News Release

May 26, 1998

Hitachi and Hitachi ULSI Systems Jointly Develop Slanted Package Mounting Technology that Quadruples Mounting Density of Earlier Hitachi TSOP Mounting Technologies

- Provides the industry's largest capacity PC-ATA cards -

Hitachi, Ltd.(NYSE:HIT) and Hitachi ULSI Systems Co., Ltd. today announced the joint development of slanted package mounting technology, which can mount memory chips with a density four times that of earlier Hitachi TSOP*1 mounting technologies. This technology is characterized by a laminated mounting in a slanted orientation of chips packaged in the ultra-thin form factor TCP*2 package. It also allows high mounting densities to be achieved using existing mounting equipment.

Recent improvements in personal computer performance and advances in digital technologies are resulting in a rapid increase in the amount of data handled by applications, especially image processing applications, and compact hard disk drives are now often used to store these large data sets. The compact hard disk drive has also become the mainstream storage medium in notebook PCs for mobile use, top-of-the-line digital still cameras, and industrial applications.

However, there is a strong need for a high-capacity storage medium that is resistant to vibration, generated by manufacturing equipment and to the vibration and shocks associated with portable use. Since it has no moving parts the standard sized PC-ATA card*3, which seems poised for rapid growth, is more resistant to mechanical vibration than a hard disk drive. Furthermore, PC-ATA cards are much thinner.

However, since the PC-ATA card can only provide one- tenth the storage of a gigabyte class hard disk drive, it remains almost completely unused as a storage medium. Therefore, mounting technologies that allow a large number of memory chips to be mounted in a limited space are seen as necessary for the creation of large-capacity PC-ATA cards.

Hitachi previously developed the stacked TCP mounting technology, in which ultrathin TCP form factor packages are stacked in two layers, for a higher density mounting than that of a TSOP*3 mounting. By using this technology, Hitachi has already produced 150-MB PC-ATA cards. However, this capacity is still smaller than that of a compact hard disk. The new slanted package mounting technology was developed based on the idea that a laminated mounting of thin form factor packages in a slanted orientation could provide increased mounting densities when mounting multiple identical packages such as memory chips.

By improving the special supporting leads used for laminated mounting in a slant chip orientation, the slanted package mounting technology is able to achieve four times the mounting density currently achieved with TSOP packages in a flat orientation. Using the slanted package mounting technology will enable Hitachi to mount 40 64-Mbit flash memory chips in a single card, achieving a 300-MB PC-ATA card (PCMCIA Type II card with a thickness of 5 mm), and will make it possible to mount 32 256-Mbit flash memory chips in a single card, resulting in a 1 GB PC-ATA card.

Notes
*1. TSOP: Thin small outline package
*2. TCP: Tape carrier package
*3. PC-ATA: PC card ATA specification. The ATA (advanced technology attachment) specification is defined by the Personal Computer Memory Card Association)

Application Product Examples

The following application equipment could make use of PC-ATA cards that use this technology could be used in top-of-the-line digital still cameras, mobile notebook personal computers and industrial equipment.

WRITTEN BY Secretary's Office
All Rights Reserved, Copyright (C) 1998, Hitachi, Ltd.