The A5X Chip is Huge Compared to the A5 and A4 Chips [Images]

The A5X chip in the new iPad is huge compared to previous generation chips, reveals Chipworks.

The company has just posted polysilicon die photos of the A5X alongside photos of the A5 and A4. The A5X is manufactured using the older 45nm process and thus takes up much more space to achieve its improved performance. The A4 measures at 53.3 mm²; whereas, the A5X is 310% larger at 165 mm².

For the A5X, Apple has also changed packaging, away from what has been package-on-package with the DRAM to putting the DRAM physically on the other side of the board. This type of packaging has been reported to have (theoretical) disadvantages in BoM simplification because it is no longer one module and in performance because of the more routing between the chip and memory. However, we wonder if all the horsepower required to play wicked-awesome games on that high pixel-count screen hasn't created potential heat issues that required the move to a new layout. Regardless, we expect that in the future, as Apple moves to newer lower power process technology at 32 nm and below (perhaps employing high-k metal gates) that we'll see a return to PoP designs.


Chipworks notes that if you look carefully at the images below you will see weird fuzziness in the logic regions. This is the different densities of the tiny logic cells showing up as lighter and darker areas.

Those interested in using the polysilicon die photos as wallpapers can find higher quality image downloads at the link below...

Read More [via TechCrunch]