TSMC has announced that its 7nm EUV-based process technology, dubbed N7+, is delivering customer products to market in high volume.
The N7+ volume production is one of the fastest on record, the pure-play foundry claimed. TSMC continued that its N7+ process, which began volume production in the second quarter of 2019, is matching yields similar to the original N7 process that has been in volume production for more than one year.
N7+ is also providing improved overall performance, TSMC noted. When compared to the N7 process, N7+ provides 15% to 20% more density and improved power consumption, making it an increasingly popular choice for the industry's next-wave products. TSMC added it has been quickly deploying capacity to meet N7+ demand that is being driven by multiple customers.
EUV technology enables TSMC to keep driving chip scaling as the shorter wavelength of EUV light is more capable of printing the nanometer-scale features of advanced technology designs. TSMC's EUV tools have reached production maturity, with tool availability reaching target goals for high-volume production, and output power of greater than 250 watts for day-to-day operations, the company indicated.
"With AI and 5G unlocking so many new ways for ICs to improve our lives, our customers are full of innovative leading-edge design ideas, and they are relying on TSMC's technology and manufacturing to make them real," said Kevin Zhang, TSMC VP of business development. "Our success in EUV is another great example of how TSMC not only makes those leading-edge designs possible, but also delivers in high volume with our manufacturing excellence."
In addition, TSMC will bring N6 technology into risk production in the first quarter of 2020 for volume production by the end of the year, the foundry disclosed. With further application of EUV, N6 will offer 18% higher logic density over N7, and design rules fully compatible with N7 enable customers to shorten time-to-market.
