Introducing the Kirin 990 5G
Posted: November 7, 2019
Contributing Authors: Daniel Yang, Stacy Wegner
The Huawei Mate 30 Series is the latest installment of the company’s annual flagship smartphones, released on September 19, 2019 in Munich. TechInsights’ Deep Dive Teardown analysis is in progress on both the Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro. These phones are powered by the HiSilicon Kirin 990 Application Processor/Modem, which is fabbed by TSMC in its first generation 7 nm FinFET (N7) process.
The Huawei Mate 30 5G and Mate 30 Pro 5G started shipping on November 1 in China. These 5G phones are especially interesting to us because they are powered by the HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G, a 5G SoC that has integrated the application processor and 5G/4G/3G/2G modem in one component, fabbed by TSMC in its second generation 7 nm FinFET EUV (N7+) process technology.
Thanks to our procurement team, we have the Huawei Mate 30 Pro 5G in house for immediate teardown. The model we are using is the LIO-AN00, 8 GB RAM + 256 GB ROM.
Board Images
The following annotated board images show the design wins we have identified so far.
| Design Wins |
|---|
| HiSilicon Hi6421 Power Management IC |
| HiSilicon Hi6422 Power Management IC |
| HiSilicon Hi6422 Power Management IC |
| HiSilicon Hi6422 Power Management IC |
| NXP PN80T Secure NFC Module |
| STMicroelectronics BWL68 Wireless Charging Receiver IC |
| Halo Micro HL1506 Battery Management IC |
| Design Wins |
|---|
| Halo Micro HL1506 Battery Management IC |
| HiSilicon Hi6405 Audio Codec |
| STMP03 (unknown) |
| Silicon Mitus SM3010 Power Management IC (likely) |
| Cirrus Logic CS35L36A Audio Amplifier |
| MediaTek MT6303 Envelope Tracker IC |
| HiSilicon Hi656211 Power Management IC |
| HiSilicon Hi6H11 LNA/RF Switch |
| Murata Front-End Module |
| HiSilicon Hi6D22 Front-End Module |
| PoP (HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G SoC & SK Hynix H9HKNNNFBMAU-DRNEH 8 GB Mobile LPDDR4X SDRAM) |
| Samsung KLUEG8UHDB-C2D1 256 GB UFS |
| Texas Instruments TS5MP646 MIPI Switch |
| Texas Instruments TS5MP646 MIPI Switch |
| HiSilicon Hi1103 Wi-Fi/BT/GNSS Wireless Combo IC |
| HiSilicon Hi6H12 LNA/RF Switch |
| HiSilicon Hi6H12 LNA/RF Switch |
| Cirrus Logic CS35L36A Audio Amplifier |
| HiSilicon Hi6D03 MB/HB Power Amplifier Module |
| Design Wins |
|---|
| HiSilicon Hi6365 RF Transceiver |
| Unknown 429 Power Amplifier (likely) |
| HiSilicon Hi6H12 LNA/RF Switch |
| Qualcomm QDM2305 Front-End Module |
| HiSilicon Hi6H11 LNA/RF Switch |
| HiSilicon Hi6H12 LNA/RF Switch |
| HiSilicon Hi6D05 Power Amplifier Module |
| Murata Front-End Module |
| Unknown 429 Power Amplifier (likely) |
Kirin 990 5G: 5G Application Processor/Modem
Aside from the Huawei Mate 30 5G and Mate 30 Pro 5G, all 5G phones in the world, regardless of what powers them - Qualcomm Snapdragon, Samsung Exynos, or HiSilicon Kirin - have a standalone 5G modem that pairs with the traditional 4G AP/Modem. The Kirin 990 5G is the first 5G SoC we have seen in a mass produced cellular device that combines an integrated application processor and 5G/4G/3G/2G modem in a single component.
The Kirin 990 5G in our phone is a Package on Package (PoP) that includes the Kirin 990 5G SoC die and SK Hynix H9HKNNNFBMAU-DRNEH 8 GB Mobile LPDDR4X SDRAM, the same DRAM we saw in the Huawei Mate 20 X (5G).
The Kirin 990 5G SoC has a die size of 10.68mm x 10.61mm = 113.31mm2. In comparison, the Mate 20 X (5G), the Kirin 980 4G AP/Modem has a die size of 8.25mm x 9.16mm = 75.57mm2, and the standalone 5G modem Balong 5000 has a die size of 9.82mm x 8.74mm = 85.83mm2. The Kirin 980 4G AP/Modem die size + 5G Balong Modem die size = 161.4mm2. With a die size of 113.31mm2, the Kirin 990 5G SoC is significantly smaller when compared to the previous dual component solution.
On a related note, we are currently analyzing Samsung’s 7 nm FinFET EUV technology.
Die Comparison
The following figures show a comparison between the HiSilicon Kirin 980 Application Processor / Modem from the Huawei Mate 20 X (5G) and the HiSilicon Kirin 990 Application Processor / Modem Huawei Mate 30 Pro (5G)
HiSilicon Kirin 980 Application Processor/Modem
Huawei Mate 20 X (5G)
HiSilicon Kirin 990 Application Processor/Modem
Huawei Mate 30 Pro (5G)
Annotated HiSilicon Kirin 990 Die
HiSilicon Kirin 990 Application Processor/Modem
Huawei Mate 20 X (5G)
Block labelling: AnandTech
Notable Design Wins
Congratulations to STMicroelectroncis on this socket win, with their BWL68 Wireless Charging Receiver IC.
We were pleasantly surprised to find a Qualcomm QDM2305 Front-End Module in this Huawei phone.
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