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posted by martyb on Friday February 22 2019, @12:26AM   Printer-friendly
from the down-and-dirty dept.

TSMC's Fab 14B Photoresist Material Incident: $550 Million in Lost Revenue

TSMC[*] on Friday revealed more details regarding an incident with a photoresist material at its Fab 14B earlier this year. The contaminated chemical damaged wafers on TSMC's 12 nm and 16 nm lines, and the company now expects the full impact of the event to reduce their revenue by a whopping $550 million in the first quarter.

TSMC said that a batch of photoresist it used included a specific element which was abnormally treated, creating a foreign polymer in the photoresist. The problem was detected late when the wafer yeilds were lower than expected. As it turns out, consequences of the photoresist incident at Fab 14B were more serious than initially calculated by TSMC. There are media reports claiming that between 10,000 and 30,000 wafers were affected and had to be scrapped, but TSMC has never confirmed either of the numbers.

According to media reports, the affected companies include HiSilicon/Huawei, NVIDIA, and MediaTek, but TSMC has not disclosed names of its customers that suffered from the incident. The only thing that TSMC does confirm is that it has already negotiated new delivery scheduled with its customers.

[*] TSMC: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company

Previously: TSMC Fab 14 B hit by Massive Wafer Defection due to Chemical Contamination, 16/12nm Production Line


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  • (Score: 4, Funny) by krishnoid on Friday February 22 2019, @01:26AM

    by krishnoid (1156) on Friday February 22 2019, @01:26AM (#804813)

    TSMC said that a batch of photoresist it used included a specific element which was abnormally treated, creating a foreign polymer in the photoresist.

    This wouldn't happen if they had a properly secured border to keep foreign elements out. I think they should build the wall 10 microns taller and get China to pay for it.

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