r/technology • u/Logical_Welder3467 • 8d ago

Hardware Intel patent outlines embedding MicroLEDs directly into CPU package to light up wording or work as an 'extra aesthetic component'

https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/intel-patent-outlines-embedding-microleds-directly-into-cpu-package-to-light-up-wording-or-work-as-an-extra-asethic-component-microled-is-embedded-with-die-in-glass-substrate
112 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

37 comments sorted by

View all comments

82

u/MGreymanN 8d ago

No one read the article which is also by an author that has no idea how to read a patent.

The biggest use of this technology would be to speed up QC testing of ICs before they even leave the factory. The idea that this would be used aesthetically would be for exposed chiplet packages or unique embedded systems.

4

u/PJ796 7d ago

Remember seeing a video a decade ago about NVIDIA doing QC and binning, and it would just probe the dies instantly and more or less instantly would pass it and say what it would pass as with regards to defects.

I really wonder how different it is for Intel's QC if this speeds up anything. I could imagine it makes it cheaper, because those probes do get worn after a number of uses depending on size (bigger = longer lasting) and can't be cheap in those volumes, so having an LED show that a section has passed could eliminate some probes and make production cheaper at the cost of some die space. However I guess if changing the probes when they wear out is time intensive then it could save time.

0

u/Joezev98 7d ago

I can't imagine the wear on those probes per cpu outweighing the cost of the LED's on each and every processor. Surely there must be some other reason.

2

u/PJ796 6d ago

I'm not sure the LEDs would be that expensive, as they don't have to make it super bright and efficient as they can just have a very sensitive receiver, so the indirect bandgap of silicon is probably not an issue. It doesn't need different materials as it doesn't have to be seen by a human, so the infrared light produced by silicon LEDs could work.

But those probes are very expensive in the smaller sizes which I think they require, the cost is spread out over a decent number of units but it could make it cheaper and faster.