TSMC won again

Source: Content original by Semiconductor Industry Watch (ID: icbank), thank you.

Recently, the wafer foundry order battle between Samsung and TSMC has begun to play out again. According to South Korean media reports, qualcomm's 4nm flagship processor Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 wafer foundry order was originally handled by Samsung, but there are rumors that Samsung's yield is inferior, so Qualcomm is determined to hand over part of the order for snapdragon 8 Gen 1 to TSMC. Sources revealed that Samsung's wafer foundry division produced the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 at a yield rate of only 35%.

It is reported that Qualcomm requested TSMC to deliver the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus in advance to replace the current Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. TSMC's Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus has 20,000 pieces that can be shipped early to April, and starting in the third quarter, Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus produces 50,000 pieces per season, which has a yield of more than 70%, far better than Samsung's 4nm process.

furthermore. According to media reports, TSMC has won all orders for Apple's 5G RF chips, with an annual production capacity of more than 150,000 pieces, using TSMC's most advanced RF process of 6nm. Apple's RF receiver was originally purchased with Qualcomm and oem by Samsung with a 14nm process, so it seems that Samsung has once again appeared to drop the single dilemma.

RF manufacturing process for four major wafer foundries

At the moment of global core shortage, as a commodity in analog chips, the demand for RF chips is huge, and major wafer foundries are also playing different roles at different process levels. In particular, among the world's top four foundries, in terms of RF chip foundry, TSMC and Samsung have advanced process solutions below 10nm, while UMC and GF focus on mature process processes.

TSMC pushes N6RF

In order to meet the needs of customers for high-speed, low-latency, and a large number of IoT applications in 5G networks, TSMC offers 16nm and 28nm RF components to support RF transceiver design by increasing the cutoff frequency and maximum oscillation frequency, and using a special 40nm process to enhance the crash voltage, supporting the application of RF switcher design with the same benefits from the product reduction of on-resistance and capacitance loss.

On this basis, in June 2021, TSMC first published the 6nm RF (N6RF) process at a technical forum, bringing the power, performance, and area advantages of advanced N6 logic processes to 5G radio frequency (RF) and WiFi 6/6e solutions. Compared to the previous generation of 16nm RF technology, N6RF transistors have more than 16% more performance.

TSMC pointed out that compared with 4G, 5G smartphones need more silicon crystal area and power consumption to support higher speed wireless data transmission, 5G allows chips to integrate more functions and components, as the chip size increases, they are competing with the battery for limited space inside the smartphone. TSMC said that the N6RF process provides a significant reduction in power consumption and area for 5G RF transceivers below 6GHz and millimeter wave bands, while taking into account the performance, functionality and battery life required by consumers, as well as enhancing the performance and power efficiency of WiFi 6/6e support.

It is reported that TSMC's capital budget will increase the expansion of the 6nm process of Zhongke 15B, the reason is to receive Apple's self-developed application in 5G RF receiver large order, the annual production capacity of more than 150,000 pieces, is expected to be applied in Apple's 2023 iPhone 15.

Samsung pushes the 8nm RF process

Almost at the same time that TSMC announced the launch of the N6RF process, it was also in June 2021 that Samsung Electronics announced the development of 8nm RF chip process technology, hoping to rush the 5G field wafer foundry orders.

Samsung has developed a unique 8nm RF dedicated architecture called RFextremeFET (RFeFET) that can significantly improve RF characteristics while using less power. Compared to 14nm RF, Samsung's RFeFET complements digital PPA scaling and restores analog/RF scaling, enabling a high-performance 5G platform. In addition, the new 8nm RF chip increases efficiency by 35% and reduces area by 35%.

According to reports, Samsung's cutting-edge foundry technology is expected to provide a "single-chip solution" specifically designed to support 5G communications for multi-channel and multi-antenna chip designs. Samsung's 8nm RF platform expansion is expected to extend the company's leading position in the 5G semiconductor market from below 6GHz to millimeter wave applications.

At present, the order situation of this 8nm RF chip process technology is still unclear, but Qualcomm has fully embraced Samsung's 7nm RF process, handed over its related chips to Samsung for production, and promised to increase the order volume.

U-power

UMC has completed a 55nm/40nm/28nm platform for the mmWave process, which can be applied to mobile devices, Internet of Things, 5G communications, automotive electronics and industrial radar.

In terms of special processes, RFSOI technology can meet the strict requirements of all 4G/5G mobile phones for RF switches, the current 90nm process has entered mass production, the 55nm process is about to be introduced into mass production, and has begun to develop a 40nm RFSOI technology platform to meet the subsequent 5G and mmWave market growth needs.

In response to the growing demand for 5G radio frequency switch chips, UMC has developed related processes and has entered the mass production phase. UMC's 5G RF switch product line for 12-inch factories has expanded rapidly from 2020 shipments.

GF

For the smart mobile device market, GF announces the introduction of a new generation of 5G and Wi-Fi 6/6e handsets and the advanced combination of features required for smart devices; GF RF-SOI Sub 6GHz solution includes new features that enable chip designers to now provide more powerful 5G connectivity, reduce blind spots, thereby increasing the time spent on calls, gaming, and watching streaming, and working longer on a single charge; and GF's FDX-RF solution includes new capabilities. Provides more reliable connectivity and connectivity for 5G mmWave devices; GF Wi-Fi solutions now include new enhanced RF and power amplification (PA) capabilities that enable Wi-Fi 6 and 6e chip designers to deliver higher-performance, more powerful Wi-Fi connectivity to next-generation Wi-Fi-enabled products, expanding signal coverage and increasing the number of connections.

Based on the above technology update, GF and Qualcomm Global Trading PTE, a subsidiary of Qualcomm Technologies. Ltd jointly announced that the two companies will continue to work together to build 5G multi-gigabit RF front-end products, so that the next generation of 5G products can provide the high cellular speed, excellent coverage and excellent energy efficiency that users expect in a small form factor.

Craft materials

The above briefly introduces the process of RF chip manufacturing in the world's top four foundries. In addition to these processes, processes and materials are also very important, and there are many types of process materials for RF chips, and different wafer foundries will select corresponding process materials according to their own positioning and process characteristics.

At present, these process materials mainly include: gallium arsenide (GaAs), indium phosphide (InP), silicon germanium (SiGe), RF CMOS, BiCMOS, and the emerging gallium nitride (GaN).

Gallium arsenide is ideal for high-frequency circuits. Gallium arsenide components in high frequency, high power, high efficiency, low noise figure electrical characteristics are far more than silicon components, lack of gallium arsenide field effect transistors (MESFET) or high electron mobility transistors (HEMT/PHEMT), in 3 V voltage operation can have 80% power increase efficiency (PAE: power addedefficiency), very suitable for high-level (high tier) wireless communication medium and long distance, long communication time requirements.

Indium phosphide is commonly used in the manufacture of high-frequency, high-speed, high-power microwave devices. In addition, InP base devices also have advantages in IC and switching applications.

SiGe high-frequency characteristics are good, material safety is good, thermal conductivity is good, and the process is mature, the degree of integration is high, and the cost is low, SiGe can not only directly use the existing 200mm wafer process of semiconductors to achieve high integration, according to create economic scale, but also comparable to GaAs high-speed characteristics. With the recent investment of IDM manufacturers, SiGe technology has gradually improved and become more practical in terms of low cutoff frequency (fT) and breakdown voltage.

RF CMOS processes can be divided into two broad categories: bulk silicon processes and SOI (silicon on insulator) processes. Due to the diode effect between the source and leakage to the substrate of the body silicon CMOS, resulting in various drawbacks, most experts believe that it is impossible to make a high-power high-linearity switch using this process. Unlike body silicon, RF switches made using the SOI process can connect multiple FETs in series to handle high voltages.

Silicon-based integrated circuits include Si BJT, Si CMOS, and Si BiCMOS, which combines the characteristics of Bipolar and CMOS. Since silicon is currently the most mature material for application in the semiconductor industry, it is extremely advantageous in terms of both production and price. At present, the Si BiCMOS process with low noise, fast electronic movement speed and high degree of integration is the mainstay. The main applications are mainly intermediate frequency modules or low-level RF modules.

epilogue

With the development of RF chip applications, process and process materials will continue to be optimized, and major manufacturers, especially wafer foundries, will have more technical space to play, and competition will become more and more intense.