Tag: TSMC 2nm chip

At the 2021 Online Technology Symposium seminar held by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), details of its chip manufacturing capabilities and the progress of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography technology were shared. TSMC currently owns half of the world’s EUV lithography machines and is responsible for more than half of the world’s chip manufacturing using advanced technology.

According to Wccftech report, TSMC introduced that the production capacity using advanced technology will maintain a compound annual growth rate of 30%, including 16nm, 12nm, 7nm, and 5nm process nodes, of which 5nm is the latest technology used by TSMC customers at this stage. By the end of this year, TSMC’s 7nm process node capacity will increase four times compared to 2018. The 5nm process node capacity is planned to double last year and four times more by 2023. These plans are aimed at the 7nm and 5nm process nodes and their improved processes, that is, including 4nm and 6nm processes. 4nm will begin mass production in the third quarter of this year.

TSMC stated that the defect density of the 7nm and 6nm processes will be the same, but the manufacturing time will be shortened, while the defect density of the 5nm and 4nm processes will be lower than that of the 7nm and 6nm processes and the chip size of the 4nm process will be reduced by 4%. In addition, at the 3nm process node, the number of tapes out in the first year is more than twice that of the 5nm process. Wccftech said that TSMC will introduce nanosheet transistors at the 2nm process node to replace the current FinFET structure to better control the threshold voltage. The 2nm process is still in the research and development stage, if all goes well, it will be trial production in 2023.

TSMC’s Fab 18 fab in Tainan, Taiwan, will be responsible for the production of 3nm process chips. It is currently also responsible for manufacturing 5nm process products and will further expand its production capacity. TSMC plans to build a new fab in Hsinchu, which will be named Fab 20 and will be responsible for the production of the 2nm process.

TSMC, which focuses on chip technology, is currently developing on the hard bones of the 2nm process. Now Taiwan media has reported that TSMC has made a breakthrough in the new process.

At present, the industry’s leading use is mainly the 7-nanometer process. Although TSMC’s 5-nanometer process has been mass-produced, the production capacity is mainly won by customers such as Apple.

For TSMC, no matter what the market situation is, the research and development of new technologies cannot be delayed, so TSMC is not only providing 5nm production capacity but also studying the 2nm process.

Taiwanese media reported that TSMC has made major breakthroughs. If it goes well, TSMC will conduct risky trial production in 2023 and mass production in 2024.

In terms of technology, TSMC has abandoned the FinFET technology that has lasted for many years and has not adopted Samsung’s surround-gate field-effect transistor technology.

TSMC is developing MBCFET multi-bridge channel FET crystal based on the surrounding gate FET technology. Samsung is currently actively conducting research and development of this technology.

Multi-bridge channel field effect tube crystal technology can form nano-sheets, which can significantly reduce power consumption and improve performance, while also reducing the chip area.

Analysts said that TSMC will continue to expand its lead with competitors and continue Moore’s Law, while TSMC will also advance to the 1nm process technology.

Via: techpowerup

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. has a mass-produced 6-nanometer process, and Intel’s new GPU is expected to adopt this process. The mass production of the 6-nanometer process was announced by TSMC itself.

Earlier, there were reports that TSMC had obtained Intel’s 180,000 6-nanometer wafer foundry orders, and Intel wanted to use TSMC to produce new high-performance graphics cards.

In terms of 5-nanometer technology, TSMC is currently accelerating, and the Apple A14 chip will use 5-nanometer technology and occupy 80% of TSMC’s current production capacity.

In terms of the 6nm process and 5nm process, TSMC has clearly led the way with Samsung, but Samsung is using 3D IC packaging technology to try to get more orders.

However, the chip foundry industry relies on excellent technical strength, and TSMC will obviously not wait for Samsung to catch up but start research on new processes to gain technological advantages.

Taiwanese media reported that in addition to the 3-nanometer process under development, TSMC plans to build a new R&D center that can accommodate 8,000 engineers for 2-nanometer process research.

TSMC is currently purchasing land for this new R&D center. If it goes well, it will start research on 2nm process-related technologies and products next year.

The above news has also been officially confirmed by TSMC. TSMC’s senior vice president stated in the recorded video that it will indeed build a new R&D center to focus on the 2nm process.

As for when the 2nm process will be mass-produced, there is no news yet. After all, it is still too early. TSMC’s next key point after 5nm mass production is the 3nm process.

Via: Reddit