Semiconductors

Although TSMC can't claim to be the first fab to use extreme UV (EUV) lithography – that title goes to Samsung – they do get to claim to be the largest. As a result, the company has developed significant experience with EUV over the years, allowing TSMC to refine how they use EUV tooling to both improve productivity/uptime, and to cut down on the costs of using the ultra-fine tools. As part of the company's European Technology Symposium this week, they went into a bit more detail on their EUV usage history, and their progress on further integrating EUV into future process nodes. When TSMC started making chips using EUV lithography in 2019 on its N7+ process (for Huawei's HiSilicon), it held 42% of the...

TSMC: 3nm Chips for Smartphones and HPCs Coming This Year

While TSMC formally started mass production of chips on its N3 (3nm-class) process technology late last year, the company is set to finally ship the first revenue wafers in...

21 by Anton Shilov on 7/21/2023

TSMC Delays Arizona Fab Deployment to 2025, Citing Shortage of Skilled Workers

TSMC on Thursday disclosed that it will have to delay mass production at its Fab 21 in Arizona to 2025, as a lack of suitably skilled workers is slowing...

27 by Anton Shilov on 7/20/2023

Samsung Shipping First GAAFET Silicon; 3nm and 4nm Yields Are Improving - Report

Currently, only two foundries offer their customers 3 nm and 4 nm-class process technologies: TSMC and Samsung Foundry. But business media sometimes blames Samsung Foundry for mediocre yields on...

5 by Anton Shilov on 7/18/2023

Intel Foundry Services Readies Intel 16 Process: Low Power FinFET For Everyday Chips

Intel Foundry Services (IFS) this week soft-launched their new Intel 16 process technology, a 16nm-class node that will be used for the production of low-power chips for everyday workloads...

3 by Anton Shilov on 7/14/2023

Samsung Updates Foundry Roadmap: 2nm in 2025, 1.4nm in 2027

Samsung Foundry revealed its latest process technology roadmap today at its annual Samsung Foundry Forum (SFF) 2023. The company's SF2 (2 nm-class) production node is on track for 2025...

4 by Anton Shilov on 6/27/2023

Intel Sells a 20% Stake in Maker of Multi E-Beam Mask Writing Tools

Intel on Wednesday announced that it had agreed to sell a 20% stake in IMS Nanofabrication, a company the develops and builds multi e-beam photomask writing tools, for $860...

1 by Anton Shilov on 6/22/2023

Intel to Spend Tens of Billions on New Fabs in Germany and Israel

Intel is spending tens of billions of dollars on new fabs in Arizona and Oregon, but the company's ambitions certainly do not end in the U.S. This month the...

28 by Anton Shilov on 6/21/2023

Top 10 Foundries See Revenue Drop Nearly 15% Year-over-Year

The top 10 contract makers of chips saw their Q1 2023 revenue decline by 14.6% year-over-year and 18.6% quarter-over-quarter, according to the most recent report by TrendForce. The market...

0 by Anton Shilov on 6/13/2023

TSMC Opens Advanced Backend Packaging Fab for AI and HPC Products

TSMC on Friday formally opened its Advanced Backend Fab 6 facility, which it will be using to expand the company's capacity for building high-end, multi-chiplet products. The facility is...

1 by Anton Shilov on 6/9/2023

TSMC Shares More Info on 2nm: New MIM Capacitor and Backside PDN Detailed

TSMC has revealed some additional details about its upcoming N2 and N2P process technology at its European Technology Symposium 2023. Both production nodes are being developed with high-performance computing...

15 by Anton Shilov on 5/31/2023

TSMC Preps 6x Reticle Size Super Carrier Interposer for Extreme SiP Processors

As part of their efforts to push the boundaries on the largest manufacturable chip sizes, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is working on its new Chip-On-Wafer-On-Substrate-L (CoWoS-L) packaging technology that...

2 by Anton Shilov on 5/26/2023

TSMC Details N4X Process for HPC: Extreme Performance at Minimum Leakage

At its 2023 Technology Symposium TSMC revealed some additional details about its upcoming N4X technology that is designed specifically for high-performance computing (HPC) applications. This node promises to enable...

5 by Anton Shilov on 5/26/2023

TSMC: We Have Working CFET Transistors in the Lab, But They Are Generations Away

Offering an update on its work with complementary field-effect transistors (CFETs) as part of the company's European Technology Symposium 2023, TSMC has revealed that it has working CFETs within...

3 by Anton Shilov on 5/25/2023

Samsung to Unveil Refined 3nm and Performance-Enhanced 4nm Nodes at VLSI Symposium

Samsung Foundry is set to detail its second generation 3 nm-class fabrication technology as well as its performance-enhanced 4 nm-class manufacturing process at the upcoming upcoming 2023 Symposium on...

3 by Anton Shilov on 5/10/2023

Samsung Foundry Vows to Surpass TSMC Within Five Years

The head of Samsung's semiconductor unit acknowledged last week that the company's current mass production, leading-edge process technologies are a couple of years behind TSMC's most advanced production nodes...

18 by Anton Shilov on 5/8/2023

TSMC Announces Early Access Nodes for Next-Gen Car Chips: N4AE and N3AE

As the final set of announcements from this week's North American Technology Symposium, TSMC closed out their fab roadmap updates with some fresh news on their automotive-centric processes. For...

10 by Anton Shilov on 4/28/2023

TSMC Details 3nm Evolution: N3E On Schedule, N3P and N3X To Deliver 5% Performance Gains

Alongside some new announcements for their 2nm process node plans, TSMC has also released a progress and roadmap update for their N3 family process technologies at today's 2023 North...

13 by Anton Shilov on 4/26/2023

TSMC Outlines 2nm Plans: N2P Brings Backside Power Delivery in 2026, N2X Added To Roadmap

At its 2023 North American Technology Symposium today, TSMC has disclosed additional details about its plans for its forthcoming N2 2nm-class production nodes in 2025 – 2026 and beyond...

38 by Anton Shilov on 4/26/2023

GlobalFoundries Sues IBM Over Sharing Leading-Edge Chip IP with Intel, Rapidus

The relationship between GlobalFoundries and IBM has been rocky in recent years. Among other things, Big Blue has previously sued GF, seeking damages for abruptly stopping the development of...

10 by Anton Shilov on 4/20/2023

Synopsys Intros AI-Powered EDA Suite to Accelerate Chip Design and Cut Costs

Synopsys has introduced the industry's first full-stack AI-powered suite of electronic design automation tools that covers all stages of chip design, from architecture to design and implementation to manufacturing...

12 by Anton Shilov on 3/30/2023

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