The race to make smartphones thinner, faster, and more powerful has heightened the importance of a once-overlooked element: the microscopic connections that bind chips to circuit boards. LG Innotek has recently introduced the world’s first Copper Post (Cu-Post) technology for semiconductor substrates.
On July 3, 2025, CEO Moon Hyuksoo revealed that the company has begun mass production of the technology, targeting high-value mobile devices. The technology represents a significant advancement in the design and construction of semiconductor substrates, enabling high-performance components such as RF-SiP (Radio Frequency–System in Package) modules used in today’s flagship smartphones.
Why chip packaging needs a redesign
Semiconductor chips have long relied on solder balls directly attached to substrates, a method that limited how tightly they could be packed. If placed too close, the balls risked melting into each other during soldering, capping circuit density.
LG Innotek’s new Cu-Post technology breaks through this limitation. By mounting smaller solder balls on microscopic copper posts, engineers can position them closer together, improving density. The copper posts also act as efficient heat conductors, shrinking substrate size while enhancing thermal stability. This makes the design especially suitable for high-performance 5G and AI-enabled smartphones, which generate more heat and require stable, thermally reliable performance.
Bringing Cu-Post to market
LG Innotek is initially targeting makers of premium smartphones and wireless modules, particularly those using RF-SiP substrates for chips, amplifiers, and filters in phones and wearables. It also supplies FC-CSP substrates designed for high-speed processors. Looking ahead, the company plans to expand into vehicle communications and AI modules, focusing on compact, heat-efficient packaging for automakers and module suppliers.
The company is aiming for more than $2.2 billion in annual semiconductor revenue by 2030. The global substrate market is expected to grow from $4.3 billion in 2025 to $5.5 billion in 2030, about 5% annually, with premium mobile applications outpacing the overall market. Early adoption is projected in flagship smartphone RF modules by 2026–2027, with potential expansion if yields rise and copper costs stabilize. Analysts note that precision demands and higher material costs could slow uptake, but advanced packaging technologies like Cu-Post are positioned to capture a growing share of high-performance mobile and IoT markets over the next decade.
LG Innotek’s innovation journey
LG Innotek began the development of its Cu-Post technology in 2021, leveraging advanced 3D digital twin simulations to model and perfect the design. Now, mass production is underway, with the company already holding about 40 patents related to the technology.
These patents form part of LG Innotek’s broader innovation strategy, with trends offering insight into where the company is directing its investments. The analysis spans filing activity, CPC technology roadmap, global market coverage, and legal representation network.
LG Innotek: Patenting Activity
LG Innotek’s patent filings remained high and relatively stable from 2015 to 2019, before hitting a peak in 2020. Filing activity has since trended downward, with the decline beginning in 2021, the same year the company began developing its copper post technology.
The numbers might suggest a slowdown, but they can also reflect a strategic shift toward filing fewer patents while focusing on higher-impact technologies. Our data shows that a larger share of recent patent filings, especially after 2020, remain pending. In earlier years, only 7 to 26 percent of filings remained pending at any given time. Since 2021, that figure has climbed to more than 90 percent. The decline in granted patents may be a result of longer examination periods for complex, next-generation designs.
This move toward selectivity is also visible in copper post filings. Based on keyword search and review, about 40 patents have been identified since 2021. The timing shows a sharp rise of published applications in 2022, signaling that copper post had become a strategic priority as LG Innotek pivoted toward higher-impact technologies. This pattern reflects a targeted approach aligned with industry demand for thinner, more efficient, and higher-performance electronics.
LG Innotek: Top Technology Areas
The CPC breakdown highlights LG Innotek’s core technology domains and evolving R&D priorities. While imaging-related codes such as H04N (Pictorial Communication), G03B (Imaging Apparatus), and G02B (Optical Systems) dominate in total filings, the semiconductor packaging and circuit arrangement-related CPCs, particularly H01L and H05K, stood out in recent years.
For 2024 to 2025, only H01L (semiconductor devices) and H05K (printed circuits and component assemblies) show notable patent filings, while nearly all other categories remain minimal. Both are closely tied to advanced semiconductor packaging, particularly copper-post interconnection. H05K points to ongoing R&D in substrate design, package assembly, and interposer structures for copper-post integration. H01L reflects work on the semiconductor device side, indicating parallel innovation at both the chip and package levels.
Imaging-related CPCs, once dominant, have gradually given way to packaging technologies that enable miniaturization, higher performance, and heterogeneous integration. The data shows that while optics and imaging remain important legacy strengths, semiconductor packaging has become a central focus of LG Innotek’s patent portfolio.
LG Innotek: Top Jurisdictions
Korea leads in LG Innotek’s patent portfolio, reflecting the company’s home-base strength in research, manufacturing, and cost-effective IP protection. Beyond Korea, filings are concentrated in major global markets with strong enforcement regimes.
The United States ranks second, reflecting its large electronics market and strict patent protections. China follows in line with its role as the world’s electronics manufacturing hub. Europe and Japan record lower volumes, while applications filed under the PCT system keep options open for additional jurisdictions.
PCT filings are heavily concentrated in 2022–2024, indicating a more selective and forward-looking approach. This strategy allows LG Innotek to secure multi-jurisdictional protection for high-value technologies while postponing costly national filings. It also reflects a shift toward fewer but higher-impact patents, with copper-post packaging and other advanced interconnect innovations likely among the main beneficiaries.
LG Innotek: Top Legal Representatives
LG Innotek’s IP work is handled by a mix of high-volume agents and major firms. In Korea, Nobel International Patent Law Firm dominates through Haw Yong Noke, Jin Cheon Woong, and Chong Jong-wook.
For international filings, partners include Dana Patent Law Firm, Birch, Stewart, Kolasch & Birch LLP, and Saliwanchik, Lloyd & Eisenschenk. In China, Grander IP leads with 614 cases, most of them handled by Li Lin. In Japan, the individual representatives are Iwase Yoshikazu, Kanayama Masataka, Kazuki Shigemori, and Ono Makoto from Anderson Mori & Tomotsune.
A three-front battle for better packaging
While Cu-Post technology takes center stage, LG Innotek’s recent patents point to a broader investment strategy aimed at solving key challenges in semiconductor packaging. The goal is to support denser layouts, improve heat dissipation, and ensure higher reliability in next-generation devices.
This strategy unfolds across three core areas: precision through finer holes, consistency through uniform post heights, and durability through anchored solder pads. Cu-Post introduces a fourth dimension, density, which amplifies the advantages of these earlier breakthroughs and positions the company for the demands of advanced, high-density electronics.
Pushing the limits of miniaturization
Traditional circuit connections are constrained by hole sizes of 50–70 microns, but LG’s new approach to encapsulating materials more firmly, improving chip protection and connection reliability, is redefining these limits.
KR20230168753A introduces a special protective layer with extremely small, precisely shaped holes just 10 to 30 micrometers wide, positioned exactly over the chip’s connection points. The surface of this protective layer is rougher on top than inside the hole, enhancing adhesion to encapsulation materials that protect and secure the chip.
In copper-post technology, where interconnect pitches are tighter and solder joints smaller, such micro-scale openings allow for finer, denser connections without sacrificing mechanical strength. This leads to smaller chips, stronger bonds, and more reliable performance, while also helping reduce manufacturing costs. The innovation supports the development of compact, high-performance electronics for applications ranging from smartphones to electric vehicles.
The patent, titled “Circuit board and semiconductor package having the same”, was filed on June 8, 2022, and published on December 15, 2023. The patent lists Lee Kee Han, Kim Sang Il, and Na Se Woong of LG Innotek Co. Ltd as inventors. Haw Yong-Noke from SunYoung International Patent & Law Firm represented LG Innotek in the filing.
Leveling the bonding posts
In high-density modules, uneven post heights can cause chips to “tilt,” leading to weak joints and early failures. LG’s design controls via geometry and plating behavior so that posts form evenly across all bonding regions.
KR20250016166A describes a package design that ensures bonding posts remain at a uniform height. The structure uses multiple insulating layers with a metal connector inside, linked to an upper pad by a narrow first via, while a second via sits closer to the bottom. A protective top layer creates two bonding regions: one aligned with the metal connector and another offset from it. Openings in these regions are etched with steeper sidewalls than the second via, allowing plated metal to form posts of nearly equal height in both regions.
This uniformity is particularly important in copper-post technology, where posts are smaller, closer together, and more sensitive to height variation, ensuring consistent solder joint quality across the entire package. The result is better chip alignment, stronger connections, and higher manufacturing yield, especially in very small, high-density packages used in smartphones, AI processors, and other advanced electronics.
The application, titled “Semiconductor package” was filed on June 8, 2023, and published on February 3, 2025. The patent lists Song Jin-ho, Na Se Woong, Kim Sang-il, and Lee Gi-han as inventors. Haw Yong-Noke from SunYoung International Patent & Law Firm represented LG Innotek in the filing.
Locking in solder connections
Shrinking solder pads often weaken the joint between a chip and its board. LG’s solution reshapes each pad into a concave “anchor” with a wider base beneath the solder mask. The molten solder flows into the recess and locks in place, creating a joint that resists cracking under heat or vibration.
U.S. Pat. App. No. 2023/0307342 introduces a pad design that improves the strength of solder connections. The design increases the contact area between the solder and the pad, with a curved surface that acts like an anchor to hold the solder in place under thermal or mechanical stress.
This anchoring effect is especially valuable in copper-post technology, where solder joints are smaller, closer together, and more prone to cracking, delamination, or failure in fine-pitch, high-density interconnects. By reinforcing pad adhesion without increasing size, the design enhances reliability in compact packages. The result is longer device life and more robust performance for applications that demand both density and durability, including smartphones, 5G, IoT, and data centers.
The application, titled “Circuit board and semiconductor package board comprising same” was filed on August 25, 2021, and published on September 28, 2023. The patent lists Nam Il Sik as the inventor. Joseph Kolasch, James Slattery, Gerald Murphy et al. from Birch, Stewart, Kolasch & Birch represented LG Innotek in the filing.
Building the foundations of tomorrow’s electronics
In the era of AI smartphones and ultra-slim designs, every micron matters. Technologies like Cu-Post may not catch the eye of consumers, yet they quietly enable the next wave of mobile innovation. Without denser layouts, uniform connections, and efficient heat dissipation, the vision of faster, smarter, and cooler-running devices would not be possible.
LG Innotek’s focus on precision and high-density packaging mirrors a wider industry shift toward smaller, more efficient electronics. Cu-Post technology addresses challenges at both the semiconductor and package levels, laying the groundwork for continued advances in mobile and AI-driven devices.
