Text/Ball Review/Zhang Ziyang Correction/Zhiqiu
At present, the most cutting-edge process technology in the semiconductor industry has entered the 3nm node, but for chip foundry enterprises, this is still not the end of chip manufacturing technology, and in the future, the foundry process of chips will continue to explore.
On December 13, fast technology news, IBM and Samsung joined forces to usher in a technological breakthrough at the 1nm chip manufacturing technology node.
IBM and Samsung join forces
Specifically, at the IEDM 2021 conference, IBM and Samsung announced the latest research success, and under the joint efforts of both parties, they launched vertical transmission field transistor technology, referred to as VTFET technology.
According to the author's understanding, the working principle of VTFET technology is to stack vertically and let the current of the chip circulate in a vertical manner, with this technology, the chip manufacturing industry is expected to enter the process node below 1nm.
Not only that, according to the introduction of Samsung and IBM, compared with the traditional chip design, the new generation of VTFET technology will bring two major advantages to the chip.
First of all, with the blessing of this technology, many performance limitations of the current technology can be easily bypassed, which further makes the extension of Moore's Law possible.
Secondly, nature is an improvement in performance. It should be known that VTFET technology is expected to allow chip manufacturing to enter the process node below 1nm, according to IBM and Samsung, the chip manufactured by VTFET technology can increase performance by 200%, and at the same time, the power consumption of the chip will also be reduced by 85%.
If it is true as IBM and Samsung said, once the VTFET technology is commercialized, then the chip manufactured using this technology will be greatly improved in terms of energy efficiency, and it is conceivable that thanks to the advantages of low energy consumption of the chip, the battery life of smart phones will also be greatly improved.
There is no doubt that VTFET technology will inevitably bring about changes in the chip manufacturing industry, but unfortunately, IBM and Samsung have not announced the mass production time of the machine technology, and it seems that the technology is not mature enough.
Mass production of 1nm, supporting lithography machine is indispensable
It is worth mentioning that as far as the current chip manufacturing industry is concerned, chip manufacturers that break through the limits of Moore's Law are not only IBM and Samsung, as early as May this year, TSMC and domestic universities and MIT joint research, relying on the characteristics of new bismuth metal, to help the chip manufacturing process break through to the 1nm node limit. At the same time, Intel also plans to complete the design of sub-micron-level chips in 2024.
It is not difficult to see from the above that the global chip foundry giants have begun to study in depth in new technologies in order to continue Moore's Law.
However, once the chip manufacturing process enters below 1nm, that is, the Amy node, a higher precision lithography machine is required to produce, which means that Samsung, TSMC and Intel want to produce chips below 1nm and need ASML to assist in the lithography machine.
Interestingly, on December 13, ASML disclosed the research and development progress of a new generation of lithography machine, according to the author's understanding, the data aperture of this lithography machine will reach 0.55NA, which can be used for chip manufacturing below 1nm.
There is no doubt that Samsung, TSMC and Intel want to seize the advantage in the 1nm process node, will inevitably grab the new generation of lithography machine developed by ASML, unceremoniously, who can buy the 0.55NA EUV lithography machine in advance, which is equivalent to entering the Amy-level process ticket.
According to ASML's public plan, the new generation of EUV lithography machines will be mass-produced in 2025.
Write to the end
In the author's opinion, the 1nm craft era will not come in the short term:
On the one hand, lithography machines that match the 1nm process technology need to wait until 2025 before mass production;
On the other hand, although the three major chip manufacturers have all said that they have achieved technological breakthroughs in 1nm, none of them have given the technical commercial time.
Moreover, according to the author's understanding, the 1nm node has reached the limit of Moore's Law, which is relatively difficult in terms of research and development difficulty, and there will certainly be many problems to be solved in the process of technology commercialization.
In the future, which chip manufacturer will take the lead in seizing the commanding heights of the 1nm era is worth looking forward to.