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Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) announced a number of node scaling details and technological advancements at its 2020 Technology Symposium:
TSMC's first "5nm" node (N5) has a lower defect rate than its initial "7nm" node did at the same point in its development cycle (high volume manufacturing, which N5 is now in). This is due in part to increasing use of extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV). "5nm" will represent 11% of TSMC's sub-"16nm" wafer production in 2020.
TSMC's "3nm" node (N3) will continue to use FinFETs rather than gate-all-around (GAA) transistors, and is scheduled for volume production in mid-late 2022. Performance is expected to improve 10-15% at the same power (compared to N5), or power consumption will be reduced 25-30% for the same performance. Logic area density improvement will be 1.7x, but SRAM density will only increase by 1.2x, leading to a 1.27x overall density increase for chips that are 70% SRAM and 30% logic.
Intel's EMIB (Embedded Die Interconnect Bridge) connects "chiplets" together without using a full silicon interposer. TSMC has its own version that it is calling Local Si Interconnect (LSI), and it will be combined with other packaging technologies. TSMC has demonstrated 12-layer stacking of chips using through silicon vias (TSVs), although cooling or doing anything useful with them could be somebody else's job.
See also: TSMC Updates on Node Availability Beyond Logic: Analog, HV, Sensors, RF
TSMC Launches New N12e Process: FinFET at 0.4V for IoT
2023 Interposers: TSMC Hints at 3400mm2 + 12x HBM in one Package
TSMC and Graphcore Prepare for AI Acceleration on 3nm
TSMC Has Reportedly Secured Orders for Its 2nm Node – Samsung May Not Beat Its Foundry Rival Until 2030, Claims New Report
(Score: 2, Funny) by aristarchus on Saturday August 29 2020, @02:33AM (2 children)
Only computer nerds would brag about how small their pipes are. Of course, when they reach the Quantum Realm, like AntMan, all bets are off.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 29 2020, @05:44AM (1 child)
Says the guy with no pipe.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Saturday August 29 2020, @07:14AM
You do not know your Greeks, especially your Samians! Try Ευπαλίνιον όρυγμα [wikipedia.org]. Greeks have pipes. Where do you think the God Priapus [wikipedia.org] is from?
Oh, you lesser northern Europeans, or residents of the more southern realms! You really all wish you could be Greek men, and so do all your women. Tis true.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 29 2020, @04:12AM (4 children)
That's what she said.
I should have dumped her before she dumped me.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 29 2020, @05:06AM (3 children)
So much for SoylentNews being a tech site, with salsa, a replacement of the un-named. Instead we have Runaway, the Rejected, and TMB, the irrefutable, and no rational discussion of the reductions of pathways in silicon. I blame Janrinok, for banning the aristarchus submissions that could have forestalled this alt-right takeover.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 29 2020, @05:13AM
So says "3nm-pennis" AC, hehehe.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 29 2020, @05:39AM (1 child)
Thanks, Wanda.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 29 2020, @07:15AM
"It's not how big it is, it is how fast it is!" And She is not impressed. Oh, dear.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by jasassin on Saturday August 29 2020, @05:55AM (2 children)
Extreme Ultraviolet lithography.
I understand the concept of smaller spectrum of light, but I don't understand the mechanism that controlls the light more accurately than the size of the particle wave itself. In my mind it's like a chicken and the egg conundrum.
jasassin@gmail.com GPG Key ID: 0xE6462C68A9A3DB5A
(Score: 4, Informative) by Mojibake Tengu on Saturday August 29 2020, @06:30AM (1 child)
It's about stochastic blur control:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_ultraviolet_lithography [wikipedia.org]
Rust programming language offends both my Intelligence and my Spirit.
(Score: 4, Touché) by jasassin on Saturday August 29 2020, @07:25AM
Thanks for the link and reference to stochasm.
After reading that and not understanding 95% of it, I'll just bow out of this articles comments and take a few aspirin.
jasassin@gmail.com GPG Key ID: 0xE6462C68A9A3DB5A
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 29 2020, @05:19PM (3 children)
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Saturday August 29 2020, @06:07PM (2 children)
The names are fake. But maybe "gate length" is getting down to single digit nanometers:
https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/5_nm_lithography_process [wikichip.org]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Booga1 on Sunday August 30 2020, @09:20AM (1 child)
Even with the names being inaccurate, I seem to recall Texas Instruments or another company claiming it was going to be extremely difficult, if not near impossible to go much below 130nm. That prediction didn't hold up well at all.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Monday August 31 2020, @11:13PM
You can get the scoop on semiengineering.com [semiengineering.com].
New Architectures, Much Faster Chips [semiengineering.com]
5/3nm Wars Begin [semiengineering.com]
Making Chips At 3nm And Beyond [semiengineering.com]
Big Trouble At 3nm [semiengineering.com]
Transistor Options Beyond 3nm [semiengineering.com]
Why Scaling Must Continue [semiengineering.com]
Working EUV is making the smaller nodes more viable, but it needs another round of improvements [semiengineering.com] within about 2 years. New transistors and materials are needed. FinFETs will be replaced with GAAFETs soon, and carbon nanotubes could make an appearance after that. Meaningful node scaling will run out and then the name of the game is 3D.
Intel has it all figured out down to fakename "1.4nm". They will probably get there, but in what form and at what cost? I think monolithic 3D will rise before literal atomic limits can be reached. It will leave node scaling gains in the dust and improve performance by 2-4 orders of magnitude.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]