Thanks to the transition from planar transistors to FinFETs, the improvement in chip performance over the past 10 years has been marginal. However, as the process technology continues to approach physical limits, the chip industry has long stopped talking about Moore's Law. Although the industry is very optimistic about the application prospects of surround gate transistors (GAAFETs) in 3nm and more advanced processes, the cost of this transformation is bound to be very high.
Although the current major chip foundries have provided considerable production capacity on the 7nm or 5nm process nodes, many companies, including TSMC and GlobalFoundries, are still working hard to overcome the next generation 3nm and 2nm process nodes for Surround Gate Transistor (GAA) technology.
It is reported that the advantages of GAA-FET are better scalability, faster switching time, better drive current, and lower leakage. However, for manufacturers, FinFET is still the most promising technology of choice.
For example, at a seminar last year, TSMC claimed that its N3 technology can improve performance by 50% while reducing power consumption by 30%, and its density is 1.7 times that of N5 technology.
Earlier news stated that the company plans to prepare for mass production of the 2nm process by 2024. However, with the well-tested and more predictable process node, TSMC also has plenty of time to test the application prospects of GAA-FET at the 2nm node.
At the same time, Semiconductor Engineering said that Samsung and Intel are also working hard to achieve the transition from 3nm to 2nm process nodes, and Samsung is expected to complete it before the end of 2022.
TechSpot pointed out that there are many types of GAA-FETs. It is currently known that Samsung will use nano-chip-based multi-bridge channel field effect transistors (MBC-FETs for short).
MBC-FET can be regarded as the side flip of FinFET, which is characterized by including the gate electrode in nano-silicon wafers grown on the substrate. Intel also disclosed that it will adopt a similar scheme based on "nanoribbons" (nanoribbons) in 2025.
Of course, under the leadership of Pat Gelsinger, the new CEO who succeeded Bob Swan, Intel may be able to accelerate the transition to new processes.
Finally, while allowing FinFET and GAA-FET to go hand in hand, chip manufacturers may also use germanium (Ge), gallium antimonide (GaSb), indium arsenide (AsIn) and other semiconductor materials with high mobility characteristics. Send "Moore's Law" the last ride.
GAAFET
