After current-generation 7nm process for manufacturing chipsets, TSMC is investing in 5nm fabrication process and majority of the capacity for the same being reserved by Apple for the A14 SoC that will power the iPhone 12 series.
To compete, earlier this year, Samsung reportedly succeeded in making first major development towards the 3nm process as the South Korean giant aims to become the world’s number one semiconductor manufacturer by 2030.
The company was set to start mass production of 3nm chipset from 2021 but it seems that Samsung is now forced to delay the manufacturing launch of the new process till 2022 and the reason is being cited to disruption caused by the coronavirus.
A report coming from DigiTimes mentions that the coronavirus has hampered Samsung’s ability to fulfil the scheduled installation of equipment for the new production lines. It is also said that TSMC’s 3nm volume production is still scheduled to commence in 2022.
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The work of Samsung for the 3nm process is based on the Gate All Around (GAAFET) technology rather than FinFET. It supposedly reduces the total silicon size by 35 percent while using about 50 percent less power. It also allows for the same amount of power consumption and 33 percent performance increase over the 5nm FinFET process.
The GAAFET design differs from the FinFET design in that it is built around having gates around four sides of the channel, which ensures reduced power leakage and thus improved control over the channel — a fundamental step when shrinking the process node.
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