TSMC starts development of 2nm process, 3nm already in the works
Click here to post a comment for TSMC starts development of 2nm process, 3nm already in the works on our message forum
KissSh0t
I wonder what will happen to the nomenclature once they start hitting sub 1nm?
sverek
Pico baby. 850pm and so on.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_of_length
Hilbert Hagedoorn
Administrator
yes, pm, picometer.
Matt26LFC
Certainly exciting times now with AMD and Zen plus these new manufacturing nodes, Intel really need to get there shit together!
cryohellinc
TSMC 9999 PM node CPU. The headlines will be lovely! 😀
D1stRU3T0R
idk if it's just me, but on the forum it's with underline, and on guru3d.com is with a simple line, making the link unavailable
Noisiv
Getting a bit ridiculous...
2nm : under development
3nm : working on it
5nm : yet to make the transition to
Aura89
....not sure why that's ridiculous....do you not want them to be working towards advancing technology?
I mean, DDR5 is being released, i would love to know that DDR6 is being worked on and DDR7 is under development.....
Put anything else in there not just DDR, it's all good.
WOLF_OF_DK
wonder if Intel have reached 7 nm at that time or they still be at 10nm+++
FM57
Interestedly enough, some years ago, the physical limit was thought to be 3nm. And now we are talking 2nm. Are electrons getting smaller ?
asturur
electrons, considered a small thing, can fit up to 3 * 10^-15 meter.
Considering 1 nano is 10^-9 meter i guess electrons size are not a issue for long yet.
I see issue in durability, reliability and strange frequency effect going forward.
Is still valid that 7nm is the width of the transistor gate, or something changed?
Agonist
Naw, let them stagnate and be behind. Be nice to have things change for a bit. I wanna laugh at Intel fanboys longer.
wavetrex
All these are coming fast due to the introduction of EUV (Extreme Ultra-Violet)
The progress was slow(ish) down to 7nm because foundries were still using "visible" light (almost, the latest gen UV is not actually visible, but still classified into visible light as it can be "bent" via lenses)
EUV is a totally different beast, lenses (of any kind) don't work at these extreme wavelengths, instead they have to use very complex mirrors to focus the EUV onto the mask.
Producing EUV was a challenge as well for many years, as no normal light source can make them. Today's EUV machines use a kind of plasma "mini-explosion" to create a pulse of energy which is then channeled and focused by those mirrors into one sharp and instant exposure.
It's absolutely amazing that foundries were able to produce 14, 10, 7nm products with 193 nm UV light (before EUV) !!
That's through multi-patterning and other complex methods...
EUV cuts the energy source wavelength by 14 times, to just 13.5 nm ... making all these sub-10nm products very easy to do with much lower chance of defects (as multi-patterning is no longer necessary, for now... but will become necessary again under 2nm structures.
Read more here...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_ultraviolet_lithography
We're in for an amazing future of microchips, at least for the next years or so... until the atomic limit is hit (then the type of "light" used is no longer relevant)
sbacchetta
2nm is actually more impressive when you consider than even with their 3nm density (250 million transistor by mm2) they can already put a TU 102 (2080ti) inside a 1cm2 chip.....
Kaarme
Intel is finally, seemingly, getting forward with its processes. Assuming they learned their lesson (which might have happened since they did get rid of the old CEO and some execs), they could reach smaller nodes faster and not get stuck anymore for multiple generations. Still, TSMC (and possible Samsung) will lead the race for now.
Borys
And Intel is working on a new process technology called 14+++++PLUS/AGAIN
wavetrex
It would be interesting to track if ASML actually sold Intel any EUV machines ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASML_Holding )
Basically, these guys are making the hardware that TSMC uses to make chips. So.... the next time you look at your fancy Ryzen 3000 7nm CPU, while it was "Made in Taiwan" in reality it was made with Dutch tech. Go Netherlands ! ;-)
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Technology/Rise-of-TSMC-gives-windfall-to-Dutch-chipmaking-equipment-giant
Intel and ASML had a big deal going on in 2012, but did that deal continue to this day? No idea...
Silva
Developing new tech takes years. Doesn't make sense having one team developing 5nm and only when it's finished, they start developing 3nm: would take years to transition.
They have multiple teams, each working at different stages of development, and surely they communicate with each other to share finds and resources.
I imagine some things learned with 5nm will be useful for 3nm, or they even had to reevaluate and move to 2nm, strategy.
This way, as consumers, we can expect faster development. It's also important for economics, as the node grows it will eventually peak and start to decline (after everyone has the latest tech, what will they buy next?). You want the next node ready by the time the old one starts to decline.
Denial
Intel uses ASML machines - everyone does. There is no other company that produces equipment for EUV fabrication and I'm not aware of any other company attempting to do it.
wavetrex
Well that's the thing, Intel does not have any EUV products yet...
Their 10nm is classic immersion exposure, multipatterned.
