While Samsung has commenced the mass production of its next-generation 5 nm chip, the company is also working hard to improve on the current 7nm process. The Korean tech giant has announced that it has attained success in applying 3D stacking technology on extreme ultraviolet (EUV)-based 7 nanometers (nm) chips.

Samsung calls the technology eXtended-Cube, or X-Cube and it involves stacking the SRAM on top of the logic die. This is done using Samsung’s through silicon via (TSV) technology that uses tiny holes to interconnect layers on chips.

This process is markedly different from the one used on Conventional system semiconductors which have the logic dies such as CPU and GPU on the same plane as the SRAM. In the case of the X-Cube, it stacks the SRAM on top of the logic dies which occupies less space and helps in more efficient power saving. Samsung also disclosed that the new process will lead to a boost in the data transfer speed.

The South Korean tech giant assured that it will continue to push the boundary in terms of the development of new technology for the advancement of semiconductor technology. We don’t have an idea of where Samsung would first implement this chipset but there are speculations that the Galaxy S1 may utilise an improved version of the Exynos 990 while the Galaxy S21 Ultra will have a 5nm Exynos 1000 and that could be it.

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Intel recently announced another delay in its plans for launching its first 7nm chips. The chipmaker giant faced issues with the process nodes and had to delay the launch by 6 months, which has now caused the company to face a lawsuit.

Despite Intel’s revenue being up by 20 percent in its Q2 2020 financial report, the company had to delay its 7nm process by another 6 months. This is quite the news as its primary competitor, AMD, is already a year ahead in the same category. This also caused a sharp decline in Intel’s share prices while AMD saw a stock jump, getting ahead of its rival for the first time in 15 years.

Although the bad news didn’t end there as earlier this month, the Hagen Berman law firm put out a call to several Intel investors that have suffered heavily. According to a report from TechSpot, the law firm hinted at a possible class action lawsuit against the chipmaker, and also seek to start an investigation into an alleged security fraud as well.

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Hagens Berman stated that on multiple occasions Intel assured of the 2021 launch of its 7nm chips and has misled its investors. However, a defect mode caused the yields to degrade overtime for its 7nm process. This has led the company to invest in a contingency plan which will have Intel use 3rd party foundries, with chips hitting the market only by 2022.

At the moment, the law firm is investigating, whether the company has misrepresented and concealed manufacturing and performance issues regarding its 7nm chips. Furthermore, it is also trying to reach out to whistleblowers with sensitive information regarding the matter saying, “Under the new program, whistleblowers who provide original information may receive rewards totaling up to 30 percent of any successful recovery made by the SEC.”

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Ever since the Huawei US ban has been extended, the company is in the news every day with new developments. One of the latest reports suggests the supplies for 5nm chips by TSMC remain unaffected as the orders were placed before the new sanction.

Huawei’s upcoming high-end smartphones, possibly called Mate 40 series is rumored to be powered by a 5nm chipset. The chip in question has been long thought to be called Kirin 1020 but a new rumor from earlier today suggests it will be known as Kirin 1000, following the name of its predecessor Kirin 990.

Having said that, this 5nm chipset is being manufactured by TSMC, which is the only company to have the tech for mass production. The Taiwanese chipmaker is also making Apple’s A14 5nm chipset slated to debut on iPhone 12 series.

But when TSMC was asked to drop business with Huawei by the US government, news started emerging that the upcoming Mate 40 series will be affected due to lack of 5nm Kirin 1020 (or 1000). However, a new report says otherwise.

The sanction by the US is only applicable for future orders from September. Since the orders for the 5nm chips were placed earlier, TSMC will supply it to Huawei as planned before the sanction goes live.

Earlier reports suggested Huawei placed orders for 5nm and 7nm chips. However, this latest one says they were actually for 5nm mobile chip for Mate 40 series and 12nm chips for 5G bases stations. That is because TSMC’s 7nm production line is currently at 100%, whereas their 5nm line is said to be only at 50%.

This means Huawei currently has no one to manufacture its 7nm Kirin 980 and Kirin 990 chipsets. This could be the reason why the company has increased its orders for MediaTek chips by a whopping 300%.

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(Via)

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Samsung last week held its annual Foundry Forum in the U.S where the company among other things, unveiled its roadmap that takes its chip manufacturing process technology to 7nm Low Power Plus, 5nm Low Power Early and 3nm Gate-All-Around Early/Plus.

According to the details revealed, Samsung will first use an EUV lithography solution on the 7nm LPP process and that should be ready for production during the second half of this year. However, mass production of parts using the new process will start in the first half of 2019. This is the same timeline for Samsung’s rival TSMC to start mass production of parts using its 7nm+ node which will also use the EUV lithography. TSMC will also start risk production of its 5nm node in the first half of 2019. Samsung is expected to produce the next-gen Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 mobile platform which will be powering next year’s Samsung Galaxy S10 using the 7nm process.

Samsung will also commence production of chips based on its 5nm LPE that will provide ultra-low power consumption in 2019. In addition, the 4nm chips will join the fray in 2020. This will be the last of the chips to employ FinFET process and it will be produced using the 4nm Low Power Early/Plus process. Chips built with this process technology will feature improved performance and a smaller cell size.

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The 3nm node will herald an entirely new manufacturing process technology. Samsung will use its own next-generation GAA (Gate all-around) architecture MBCFET (multi-bridge-channel FET). 3nm production is not expected to begin until 2022. Keep in mind that the smaller the node size, chips that are produced using the process are more powerful and energy efficient.
(source)

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Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation is one of the top foundries in the world. Based in China, with its headquarters in Shanghai, SMIC manufactures chips for Qualcomm, Broadcom and Texas Instruments. The CEO of the foundry, Tzu-Yin Chiu has announced plans to begin R&D for 7nm production later this year.

The announcement will mean the entry of another major player in the race for 7nm chip production. Other semiconductor manufacturers that have announced 7nm production plans are TSMC and Samsung.

SMIC is reported to be working with a number of partners like Huawei and nano-electronics research institute, Imec. “The foundry is also working with many IC design service providers including Brite Semiconductor, Cadence Design Systems, Synopsys, ARM and Mentor Graphics, and is partnering with equipment and materials suppliers such as Applied Materials, Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment (AMEC), ASML, Shin-Etsu Handotai and Sumco” says CEO Chiu.

For backend, SMIC is working with Jiangshu Changjiang Electronics Technology (JCET). Both companies have set up a joint venture to provide a more complete supply chain for advanced-node manufacturing.

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In 2016, SMIC’s capital expenditure amounted to $2.7 billion. Revenues came in at $2.9 billion, a 30.3% growth from the previous year.

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The 10nm Helio X30 is a deca-core chip but Mediatek is going all out and making it twelve on the 7nm chipset. There is still no specific info on how the cores will be paired but the chip will be the first to feature 12 cores.

You might be wondering why Mediatek keeps increasing the number of cores on their flagship chips while other flagship processors like the Snapdragon 821 remain quad-core chips. The reason is said to be a way to maintain balance between power efficiency and performance.

The trial production is expected to begin in the second half of the year and begin mass production in 2018. Samsung has also scheduled its own 7nm mass production to begin the same time. There is also a mention of a 5nm trial production scheduled for 2019 by the Taiwanese foundry.

READ MORE: Mediatek Could Possibly Cancel 50% of Helio X30 Production

Right, now TSMC is focused on meeting production schedules for its 10nm chip. Some have speculated that TSMC’s 10nm yield is one-tenth that of Samsung’s that is why the Helio X30 chip will be arriving late. But the Taiwanese foundry and it’s Chinese client, Mediatek have denied it, with the latter saying that the chip is already in mass production and will be available in Q2 2017.

(Source)

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