Samsung Electro-Mechanics (Semco) is broadening its collaboration with South Korean materials supplier SoulBrain beyond glass substrate etchants to include copper plating chemicals and chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) slurries, as the companies race to secure key materials for next-generation AI chip packaging.
Expanding beyond etchants
According to TheElec, the partnership, which began in 2025 with joint development of etching solutions, has expanded to cover three critical chemical materials required for glass core substrate manufacturing: etchants, copper plating solutions and CMP slurries. The companies are jointly evaluating material performance and optimizing formulations to match Semco's manufacturing process, while the substrate maker is also assessing competing suppliers.
The three materials are used at different stages of the production process. Etchants create through-glass vias (TGVs) by chemically removing laser-processed glass, copper plating solutions fill those vias to establish vertical electrical connections, and CMP slurries remove excess copper while planarizing the substrate surface.
Why glass demands its own chemistry
Because glass behaves differently from conventional silicon or organic substrates, manufacturers must carefully tune etch rates, copper adhesion, and surface flatness for each production process. This makes close collaboration between substrate makers and chemical suppliers essential before mass production.
SoulBrain has already established expertise in etchants and CMP slurries while also developing copper plating solutions for glass substrates. Industry observers believe the company has a stronger chance of supplying mature etching and CMP materials, while its plating chemistry remains under evaluation alongside equipment and process integration.
Scaling toward mass production
The collaboration comes as Semco accelerates commercialization of glass core substrates for AI and high-performance computing. The company is operating a pilot production line at its Sejong facility and is targeting mass production after 2027, according to Samsung's official announcements. It also signed a memorandum of understanding with Sumitomo Chemical to establish a joint venture producing glass core materials, strengthening its upstream supply chain.
Glass substrates are widely viewed as a successor to organic package substrates because they offer superior flatness, lower thermal expansion, and reduced warpage, enabling finer circuit patterns and larger package sizes. Semco has said the technology is designed to support increasingly complex AI processors and high-bandwidth memory (HBM) integration, where multiple chips are combined into a single package.
Semco has reportedly supplied glass substrate samples to customers including Broadcom and Apple as it expands customer evaluations ahead of commercialization. Industry analysts expect supplier selections made during the current qualification phase to shape long-term material sourcing once glass substrates enter mass production.
Article edited by Jerry Chen
