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Wednesday, September 5, 2012
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TSMC To Delay Transition To 450-mm Wafers
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Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) will start
using 450-millimeter wafers to build its processors in
2018, following delays in the development of the new
technology.
J.K. Wang, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.?s vice
president for operations/300mm fabs, said the company will
begin volume production of chips on 450mm silicon wafers in
2018, offering FinFET transistor technology at 10nm node.
He noted that TSMC has completed its planning for deploying
450mm wafer production.
The company's vice president for research and development,
Burn Lin, pointed out that TSMC will begin volume
production of FinFET transistors at 20nm process and is on
the track to deploy 16nm FinFET process. In addition to
ultraviolet lithography, Lin said that TSMC is also
considering multi e-beam lithography technology for its
10nm FinFET process. He pointed out that TSMC will use the
legacy immersion lithography technology on its 10nm and
16nm transistors as EUV is still immature. However,
transistors smaller than 10nm will use next-generation
lithography technology.
Intel, TSMC, Samsung, IBM, and GlobalFoundry have formed an
alliance to push for 450mm technology.
Currently, chip makers are using silicon wafers at the
300-mm size to build their processors. Upgrading to the
450-mm level would allow companies to produce more chips
from each wafer, as the 450-mm wafers have 2.5 times more
surface area.
Industry has been slow to move forward to 450-mm wafer
manufacturing, as billions of dollars are needed to invest
in building the tools and factories to produce the wafers. |
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