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posted by martyb on Saturday April 06 2019, @07:33PM   Printer-friendly
from the when-will-we-need-to-start-miniaturizing-molecules? dept.

TSMC's 5nm EUV Making Progress: Process design kits, design rule manual, electronic design automation tools, 3rd Party IP Ready

TSMC[*] this week said that it has completed development of tools required for design of SoCs that are made using its 5 nm (CLN5FF, N5) fabrication technology. The company indicated that some of its alpha customers (which use pre-production tools and custom designs) had already started risk production of their chips using its N5 manufacturing process, which essentially means that the technology is on-track for high-volume manufacturing (HVM) in 2020.

TSMC's N5 is the company's 2nd generation fabrication technology that uses both deep ultraviolet (DUV) as well as extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography. The process can use EUVL on up to 14 layers (a tangible progress from N7+, which uses EUVL on four non-critical layers) to enable significant improvements in terms of density. TSMC says that when compared to N7 (1st Gen 7 nm, DUV-only), N5 technology will allow chip developers to shrink die area of their designs by ~45%, making transistor density ~1.8x higher. It will also increase frequency by 15% (at the same complexity and power) or reduce power consumption by 20% power reduction (at the same frequency and complexity).

[*] TSMC - Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation

Same chip(let) size? Approximately double the core count.

Previously: TSMC Holds Groundbreaking Ceremony for "5nm" Fab, Production to Begin in 2020
TSMC Details Scaling/Performance Gains Expected From "5nm CLN5" Process
TSMC Tapes Out Second-Generation "7nm" Chip Using EUV, Will Begin Risk Production of "5nm" in April

Related: Samsung Plans to Make "5nm" Chips Starting in 2019-2020
ASML Plans to Ship 30 Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography (EUV) Scanners in 2019


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 07 2019, @01:22AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 07 2019, @01:22AM (#825582)

    nm chip die sizes are marketing bullshit these days. Intel and TSMC measure different things.

  • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday April 08 2019, @01:35PM

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Monday April 08 2019, @01:35PM (#826140) Journal

    Remember back in the day when everyone compared MHz and later GHz? Isn't an Intel GHz exactly the same thing as an AMD GHz? And aren't they exactly the same and consistent even within a single manufacturer's product lines?

    What? No!?!?!

    --
    People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.