Samsung Completes Development of 5nm EUV Process Technology
by Anton Shilov on April 17, 2019 6:30 PM EST- Posted in
- Semiconductors
- EUV
- EUVL
- Samsung Foundry
- 5nm
- 5LPE
Samsung Foundry this week announced that it has completed development of its first-generation 5 nm fabrication process (previously dubbed 5LPE). The manufacturing technology uses extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) and is set to provide significant performance, power, and area advantages when compared to Samsung’s 7 nm process (known as 7LPP). Meanwhile, Samsung stresses that IP developed for 7LPP can be also used for chips to be made using 5LPE.
5LPE Is Ready (For Sampling)
Samsung’s 5 nm technology continues to use FinFET transistors, but with a new standard cell architecture as well as a mix of DUV and EUV step-and-scan systems. When compared to 7LPP, Samsung says that their 5LPE fabrication process will enable chip developers to reduce power consumption by 20% or improve performance by 10%. Furthermore, the company promises an increase in logic area efficiency of up to 25%.
Advertised PPA Improvements of New Process Technologies Data announced by companies during conference calls, press briefings and in press releases |
|||||||||
14LPP vs 28LPP |
10LPE vs 14LPE |
10LPE vs 14LPP |
10LPP vs 10LPE |
10LPU vs 10LPE |
7LPP vs 10LPE |
5LPE vs 7LPP |
|||
Power | 60% | 40% | 30% | ~15% | ? | 50% | 20% | ||
Performance | 40% | 27% | >10% | ~10% | ? | 20% | 10% | ||
Area Reduction | 50% | 30% | 30% | none | ? | 40% | <20% |
The contract maker of semiconductors says that it can reuse all existing 7LPP intellectual property on chips designed for 5LPE technology, which will reduce customers' migration costs and shrink product development cycle. Meanwhile, typically IP vendors tend to optimize and verify their IP for new process nodes, so it remains to be seen whether always reusing 7LPP IP blocks for 5LPE chips will be the most optimal solution.
Samsung Foundry said that it has offered 5LPE process design kit (PDK), design methodologies (DM), electronic design automation (EDA) tools, and IP, to its customers since the Q4 of 2018. In addition, the company has started to provide 5LPE multi project wafer (MPW) shuttle service to its clients. Overall, the technology is ready for design starts and sampling, though it should be noted that as is usually the case with these kinds of announcements, risk production and volume production will still be some distance off.
“In successful completion of our 5nm development, we’ve proven our capabilities in EUV-based nodes,” said Charlie Bae, Executive Vice President of Foundry Business at Samsung Electronics. “Considering the various benefits including PPA and IP, Samsung’s EUV-based advanced nodes are expected to be in high demand for new and innovative applications such as 5G, artificial intelligence (AI), high performance computing (HPC), and automotive.”
EUV Ramping Up at Samsung
In addition to announcing its 5 nm process technology, Samsung Foundry this week shared some details concerning the ramp up of its 7LPP production using EUVL tools. As it turns out, the company had provided commercial samples of 7LPP chips to interested parties and initiated mass production of select designs early this year.
Samsung Foundry Lithography Roadmap, HVM Start Data announced by company during conference calls, press briefings and in press releases |
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2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2022+ | ||||||
1H | 2H | 1H | 2H | 1H | 2H | 1H | 2H | |||||
10LPE | 10LPP | 8LPP 10LPU* |
7LPP | 5LPE** | 5LPE | 4LPE* | 4LPP* | 3GAAE* 3GAAP* |
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*Exact timing not announced **May be available only to Samsung LSI |
As reported, Samsung currently uses ASML’s Twinscan NXE:3400B EUVL scanners to produce 7LPP chips at its Fab S3 in Hwaseong, South Korea. The company is on track to complete its dedicated EUV line in Hwaseong in the second half of 2019 and then start volume production there in 2020.
Related Reading:
- Samsung Foundry Roadmap: EUV-Based 7LPP for 2018, 3 nm Incoming
- Samsung Foundry Updates: 8LPU Added, EUVL on Track for HVM in 2019
- Samsung and TSMC Roadmaps: 8 and 6 nm Added, Looking at 22ULP and 12FFC
- Samsung Starts Mass Production of Chips Using Its 7nm EUV Process Tech
Source: Samsung Foundry
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FunBunny2 - Wednesday, April 17, 2019 - link
it all depends, it seems, on what ASML et al do. the tool makers are the bottleneck.shabby - Wednesday, April 17, 2019 - link
Tool makers are the bottlenecks?Intel: hold my beer...
ZolaIII - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link
Random errors in the EUV layers is a brake... Samsun has better IP portfolio for third party costumers and better tool chain.ZolaIII - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link
Samsung*Felixthecat256 - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link
Tsmc announced the 5nm process was complete on April 9th. Only time will tell who is better.Wilco1 - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link
TSMC will be denser. Using the 7nm figures from https://www.semiwi ki.com /forum/content/7926-samsung-vs-tsmc-7nm-update.html , we get 175 million transistors/mm^2 for TSMC 5nm vs 112.5 for Samsung.Sychonut - Wednesday, April 17, 2019 - link
Looking forward to 14+++++++++++.melgross - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link
Interesting because it’s been stated numerous times that FinFET isn’t suited for 5nm, and that companies were investigating at least three other methods.eastcoast_pete - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link
@Anton: the first table (showing improvements in power consumption, performance etc.) is labeled as sourced from "manufacturers"; could you please indicate which comparisons are from which manufacturer? Thanks!peevee - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link
"Furthermore, the company promises an increase in logic area efficiency of up to 25%."Of course if it really be 5nm vs 7nm, the increase would be 100% ( (7/5)^2 - 1 ).
I know, I know, it is all lies, gate lengths (historical measure) are still in 40nm range and regulators are nowhere in sight to stop all this marketing fraud.