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TSMC and Global Foundries Plan Risky Process Jump As Intel Unveils 22nm SoC

Posted by Unknown on from the transistor-envy dept.

MrSeb writes with news on the happenings with next generation fabrication processes. From the article: "... Intel's 22nm SoC unveil is important for a host of reasons. As process nodes shrink and more components move on-die, the characteristics of each new node have become particularly important. 22nm isn't a new node for Intel; it debuted the technology last year with Ivy Bridge, but SoCs are more complex than CPU designs and create their own set of challenges. Like its 22nm Ivy Bridge CPUs, the upcoming 22nm SoCs rely on Intel's Tri-Gate implementation of FinFET technology. According to Intel engineer Mark Bohr, the 3D transistor structure is the principle reason why the company's 22nm technology is as strong as it is. Earlier this year, we brought you news that Nvidia was deeply concerned about manufacturing economics and the relative strength of TSMC's sub-28nm planar roadmap. Morris Chang, TSMC's CEO, has since admitted that such concerns are valid, given that performance and power are only expected to increase by 20-25% as compared to 28nm. The challenge for both TSMC and GlobalFoundries is going to be how to match the performance of Intel's 22nm technology with their own 28nm products. 20nm looks like it won't be able to do so, which is why both companies are emphasizing their plans to move to 16nm/14nm ahead of schedule. There's some variation on which node comes next; both GlobalFoundries and Intel are talking up 14nm; TSMC is implying a quick jump to 16nm. Will it work? Unknown. TSMC and GlobalFoundries both have excellent engineers, but FinFET is a difficult technology to deploy. Ramping it up more quickly than expected while simultaneously bringing up a new process may be more difficult than either company anticipates."

60 comments

  1. SoC by Wiggin · · Score: 5, Informative

    In case anyone else was wondering, SoC stands for System on a Chip

    --

    "I don't need a compass to tell me which way the wind shines." - Mr. Furious, Mystery Men
    1. Re:SoC by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

      Why are SoCs more complex than CPU designs?

    2. Re:SoC by camperdave · · Score: 2

      SoCs are CPU+Memory+bridges+etc. Any superset is going to be more complicated than the sets it contains.

      --
      When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
    3. Re:SoC by UnknowingFool · · Score: 2

      For ARM, GPU is on the SoC level. Most chip makers prefer it that way as they can pair their choice of GPU: PowerVR, nVidia, etc. Intel has chosen to bundle their GPUs with the CPU for the last few Core i-Series.

      --
      Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
    4. Re:SoC by slew · · Score: 4, Informative

      There are many thing more complex with SoC vs just CPU-chips. Although CPUs are complicated beasts in their own rights, if you follow the recent trends, they stamp down 4 of the units on the chip with lots of cache and only a few different Input/Output pad connections (e.g., DRAM, DMI). On an SOC, you've got lots of different types of units (CPU's, GPUs, Video decoders, wireless MACs, USB controllers, etc), each having their own clock, power and I/O requirements, and most of the time some licensed designs from outside IP vendors (of varying quality and originating from different design and testing environments), which have to be all integrated on the same chip.

      Today, operations like place and route, timing closure, power and noise crosstalk, clock generation, etc, are tough things to do. If you only have a few identical things (say like 4 cores and 2 caches on a chip), you can leverage a lot of things between these modules. On an SoC, you need to do these things on all units, but you can't really leverage much between modules because they are so different, so some of the work is simply more complex (not necessarily harder, but more work and irregular work, so it's easier to overlook things, e..g., high complexity). There are also tons, secondary issues (e.g, thermal/electrical power sharing between GPU/CPU, low-power standby-modes), that you don't necessarily find in a CPU-only design that also need to designed and analyzed (can't fix them after you tape out the SoC, where you might be able to fix them on a board in a discrete design).

      On the electrical I/O front, designing and characterizing a few standard I/Os that only have to drive a few mm on fairly standardized circuit boards isn't the same as having lots of different I/Os that run at different frequencies and have varying drive voltage requirements and high density packaging that need to still have a routable board with good signal integrity in several different circuit board designs. Just because Intel could get a few standard low-swing I/Os running on their 22nm process didn't mean it was a cake walk for them to design I/Os that hooks to cables and run at higher voltages and have experience more severe ESD issues (don't want to zap you SoC when you walk across the carpet).

      The fact that they got the stuff they need for SoCs working from a design integration and electrical I/O point of view on their advanced 22nm process is certainly a big advance for them worthy of trumpeting...

    5. Re:SoC by Tom+Womack · · Score: 1

      Yes, an SoC is a significantly bigger job than a pure CPU core. But Intel hasn't been producing pure CPU cores for a long time; an Ivy Bridge has a large GPU, a collection of video accelerators, two DDR3 controllers, a PCIe 3.0 interface, and quite a fancy power-management microcontroller. The die is less than 50% occupied by CPU cores.

    6. Re:SoC by slew · · Score: 1

      Yes, an SoC is a significantly bigger job than a pure CPU core. But Intel hasn't been producing pure CPU cores for a long time; an Ivy Bridge has a large GPU, a collection of video accelerators, two DDR3 controllers, a PCIe 3.0 interface, and quite a fancy power-management microcontroller. The die is less than 50% occupied by CPU cores.

      But on Ivy Bridge, all the wacky I/O is in the southbridge (connected through DMI, a PCIe-like physical interface) which was manufactured in an older process technology. On a true SoC, you need to pull all the cruft from the southbridge into your main chip which means you need to port all the I/O cells to your main chip on the advanced process. You also need to worry about board routability more (with a southbridge, you get to put all that nasty I/O stuff far way from your main chip avoiding many of the routing and power-plane voltage droop complications).

    7. Re:SoC by TechyImmigrant · · Score: 1

      >Why are SoCs more complex than CPU designs?

      They aren't. Not as far as I can tell. I swim in both seas.

      SoCs have some integration issues because they tend to emphasize IP reuse (I.E. dropping in standard designs for things like interfaces) and IP reuse is always more difficult that it looks on the surface.
      CPUs tend to focus more on build-it-youself architecture. But the distinctions are very blurred these days.
      CPUs tend to be associated with big core/desktop
      SoCs tend to be associated with small core/hand held

      So I don't think SoC vs CPU is a real distinction any more. They're all SoCs, it's just that the scale is different.

      --
      I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
  2. OK, where are the people ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    who will redefine photolithography as "3D printing", so now they think that the toy printer they have at home will print out ICs??

    1. Re:OK, where are the people ... by ArcadeMan · · Score: 2

      Screw the 3D printers, I'm going to mill my own SoC. All I need is a sub-micron, square end mill bit.

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      Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
  3. Marketing 14nm not, real 14nm by erice · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If you read the announcements, you will weasel words like "14nm class". The bottom line is: these are not 14nm processes. It would be more accurate to call them 20nm with FinFets. Global Foundries process does reduce some parameters from their 20nm planer but there is nothing 14nm about it.

    1. Re:Marketing 14nm not, real 14nm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      I don't care if it's "real" 14nm or fake. What counts is how fast the resulting chips are, and how many MIPS/Watt they achieve. At the end of the day, the whole stuff is insistinguishable from magic.

    2. Re:Marketing 14nm not, real 14nm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think it is almost doable thing now, with certain photo lithography machines, but I think they have to at least use double patterning, or even quad to get the lines they want at 16nm. Which means throughput takes a huge hit for the exposure time. You may get smaller lines, but it will take longer to actually manufacture as many chips.

    3. Re:Marketing 14nm not, real 14nm by girlintraining · · Score: 4, Insightful

      ...there is nothing 14nm about it.

      Add more Gs to it. That's what the telcos did. They bring a 2G, you bring a 3G. They bring a 3G, you bring a 4G. That's the chic--marketing way! Then we took that whole gigabyte thing with harddrives and just rounded down. Asking companies to compete based on actual specifications instead of marketing bullshit is communist. If you support that kind of commie non-sense then you're the reason we're losing jobs to China. Blah blah blah... *barfs*

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    4. Re:Marketing 14nm not, real 14nm by turkeyfeathers · · Score: 1

      No double patterning required... just make sure you use name-brand Rubylith and a very sharp knife.

    5. Re:Marketing 14nm not, real 14nm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The throughput is a huge factor in what actually gets made though. I don't work in the semiconductor industry, but do work in a field that gets a lot of overlap and I see a lot of presentations at conferences relating to the equipment being designed for next generation lithography. There are a lot of features they complain about having to toss out, because the owners of the fab give them a very hard limit on time per wafer to be processed, and a hard limit on down time, etc.

    6. Re:Marketing 14nm not, real 14nm by iggymanz · · Score: 2

      quite true and I'm sad. I want the end of the silicon roadmap as soon as possible

    7. Re:Marketing 14nm not, real 14nm by gagol · · Score: 1

      God rubylith is fun, in those days a graphic designer needed the dexterity of a surgeon to separate the colors...

      --
      Tomorrow is another day...
    8. Re:Marketing 14nm not, real 14nm by Bengie · · Score: 1

      True, but MIPS/Watt is highly correlated with transistor size, which is why people care about size. Plus transistor size usually predicts prices. As a given process matures, eventual pricing approaches the cost of the silicon, which is mostly fixed. Transistor size directly affects the size of a chip.

    9. Re:Marketing 14nm not, real 14nm by tlhIngan · · Score: 2

      If you read the announcements, you will weasel words like "14nm class". The bottom line is: these are not 14nm processes. It would be more accurate to call them 20nm with FinFets. Global Foundries process does reduce some parameters from their 20nm planer but there is nothing 14nm about it.

      The irony also is that it's a SoC, so most of the transistors there are NOT going to be "14nm" or "22nm" or whatever. They're going to be larger.

      Why? Several things decide the size of a transistor - first, the use of the transistor - if it's an output driving several inputs, it means the transistor has to scale up to switch reasonably quickly. Ditto if the transistor has to drive a "long line" across the chip as it has to overcome capacitances and have enough current drive to overcome inductances. Power consumption reduction is achieved by making transistors smaller (because the fundamental gate capacitances and switching currents will be subsequently smaller, but it also means it will run slower - a small transistor driving a big one will take time for the drive required to overcome the bigger one's capacitances and such). But if power isn't a concern, it can run faster as well because there's less parasitics so a stronger drive will switch more quickly (a big transistor driving a small one will cause the small one to switch much quicker). Then there's the "overdrive" capability - a lot of circuits rely on geometry and current handling. Like a 6T SRAM - it's basically a couple of switching transistors (read/write, word output) followed by two back-to-back inverters (a couple of transistors each). The forward inverter has bigger transistors than the feedback inverter - when you write into the cell, the bit line overdrives it so the feedback inverter is overpowered and the forward inverter switches. After two gate times (forward and back), the value is latched. But it also means the bit line transistors are huge - they have to drive a long line and overpower a feedback inverter.

      The small transistors are pretty much reserved for memory - where density of transistors is important. Density of transistors in non-memory (i.e., "random logic") parts is very low - because the problem is wiring density, not transistor density - the wires are dictating how close the transistors can be. So even on the SoC, the only small transistors would be stuff like caches and such. Everything else will be bigger because of what they're driving.

  4. Re:I couldn't possibly comment by binarylarry · · Score: 0

    BobaFET technology is going to totally own FinFET!

    You heard it here first!

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    Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
  5. Where is the damn article?? by vivek7006 · · Score: 1

    Where is the damn article?? I don't see any link to the actual article. Is this the new slashdot?

    1. Re:Where is the damn article?? by vivek7006 · · Score: 1

      OK found it. Its at the bottom of the summary :)

    2. Re:Where is the damn article?? by ifiwereasculptor · · Score: 4, Funny

      Ah, not the new /. at all, just the old /. readers.

  6. Re:I couldn't possibly comment by TechyImmigrant · · Score: 1

    One one? There were multiple projects from multiple companies mentioned in the article.

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    I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
  7. Unfair by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    This is obviously unfair of Intel to be out innovating the rest of the market like this. We should curb it somehow

    1. Re:Unfair by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is obviously unfair of Intel to be out innovating the rest of the market like this. We should curb it somehow

      Intel, you didn't build that!

    2. Re:Unfair by TechyImmigrant · · Score: 1

      >Intel, you didn't build that!

      I happen to live next door to the Ronler Acres Intel Fantasy Fab Land.
      Somebody most definitely did built that, because for 6 months there was a 'kin huge Lampson Transilift visible out the back window.
      http://www.splatzone.com/lampson/

      --
      I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
    3. Re:Unfair by TechyImmigrant · · Score: 1

      Found a picture of the one I saw..
      http://www.flickr.com/photos/67292116@N00/6139404916/

      It just looks like a crane int he picture, but when people walked by, it was the sort of crane that made people stop and say "By golly, that's a big crane!"

      --
      I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
  8. Well in this case by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 1

    They have more of a marketing issue because they are up against someone with better technology. Intel tends to be around a node ahead of everyone else because they invest massive amounts in to R&D, billions a year.

    So it isn't like the telcos trying to market "moar Gzzzz!!!11" to consumers, it is that they are trying to figure out a way to catch Intel.

    1. Re:Well in this case by girlintraining · · Score: 1

      So it isn't like the telcos trying to market "moar Gzzzz!!!11" to consumers, it is that they are trying to figure out a way to catch Intel.

      They could try investing in R&D. You know, just a thought...

      --
      #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
    2. Re:Well in this case by Bengie · · Score: 4, Informative

      During a 3-5 year stretch during this recession, Intel was the ONLY company with fabs that kept R&D flat. Everyone else made drastic cuts. There is a lot of ground to cover.

  9. Re:Yeah but can it run... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    I'm a bit scared of all this die shrinkage.

    We have lots of perfectly working gear around here older than most of our offspring...

    As transistor count goes up and feature size down can we expect more of our gear to start to go haywire over a shorter length of time or is there something baked into process steps to counteract or actually improve reliability?

  10. Re:I couldn't possibly comment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Although you hail from the Willamette Valley in Oregon. There are limited silicon manufacturing employers in the region.

    Of the three companies mentioned in posting TSMC, GloFlo, and Intel, perhaps we should see who is that area (as if we didn't know already)
    You are an immigrant from the UK. You were recently started a job (Monday, May14th according to your journal, you did not post anonymously).

    Shall I go on?

  11. Re:I couldn't possibly comment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Apparently some moderators don't get any connection between Taiwan and Boba tea, Taiwan and TSMC, thrown in with an oblique starwars reference...
    I thought that was worth a least a little bit of funny, but I don't have any mod-points.

    Posting Anon, because the orginal poster doesn't seem to invite much karma...

  12. Remember 40nm at TSMC? by DavidClarkeHR · · Score: 2

    I couldn't possibly comment because they'd fire me.

    But it is rather awesome.

    Is that sarcasm? You can't comment means you won't add criticism or praise? I remember the HUGE cock-up that TSMC caused AMD when they went to the 5000 series GPUs. They had QC issues for all the rev.0 chips, and none of them would overclock. The 3 that I bought (sequentially) all needed super-cooling OR underclocking to perform consistently.

    Maybe it's just me, but I'm extremely sceptical that TSMC will be able to pull this off properly.

    --
    - Nec Impar Pluribus, or so I'm told.
    1. Re:Remember 40nm at TSMC? by TechyImmigrant · · Score: 1

      >Is that sarcasm?
      Not at all. The technology is awesome in that it is so much better than what went before and that makes it a joy to work on.

      I think my comment was misinterpreted because it inadvertently landed as the first post.
       

      --
      I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
  13. Can TMSC really do it? by edxwelch · · Score: 2

    It took Intel 10 years to take FinFET from concept to production, yet TMSC are claiming they can do it in only 2 years. Is that even feasible? Even if it is, doesn't Intel have patents on the tech?

    1. Re:Can TMSC really do it? by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1

      yet TMSC are claiming they can do it in only 2 years.

      Where on did you get that piece of information?

      Firstly, FINETs have been a subject of research for quite a while, much of which has been open academic research. So, it's not like TMSC has been doing this in a vacuum.

      Secondly, why do you think TMSC hasn't looked at FINFETs before now?

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    2. Re:Can TMSC really do it? by edxwelch · · Score: 1

      2 years. Yes, that's the time from which TMSC first publicly said they would use it (last year), until when they deliver (2014 according to article).

    3. Re:Can TMSC really do it? by PlusFiveTroll · · Score: 1

      Third, it's not like TMSC hasn't chopped up an intel chip really small and looked at under microscopes.

  14. Re:I couldn't possibly comment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Mostly it's that OP is an unmitigated ass.

  15. Re:I couldn't possibly comment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So which one were you involved in? Or does your company consider it a trade secret that actual people are working on an announced R&D effort, and so you can't even confirm that you were working on anything? Hah.

  16. Re:Yeah but can it run... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Fortunately your concerns don't have any bearing on what the people actually developing these technologies think.

  17. Re:Yeah but can it run... by Tapewolf · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm a bit scared of all this die shrinkage.

    We have lots of perfectly working gear around here older than most of our offspring...

    As transistor count goes up and feature size down can we expect more of our gear to start to go haywire over a shorter length of time or is there something baked into process steps to counteract or actually improve reliability?

    I'm not sure why this was modded down. Flash in particular has problems with smaller die sizes, and while lower longevity has certain economic benefits, environmentally it's a dead end.

    The other thing is the 11-year solar cycle... if we develop some ultra-high density technology during the low ebb, we may find that half our electronics get frazzled during the solar maximum.

  18. Re:Yeah but can it run... by girlintraining · · Score: 1

    I'm a bit scared of all this die shrinkage.

    I'm not sure why this was modded down.

    Political correctness. Think about it for a second, you'll get it.

    --
    #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
  19. Re:Yeah but can it run... by ArcadeMan · · Score: 2

    I'm a bit scared of all this die shrinkage.

    22nm die: I was in the pool! I was in the pool!

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    Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
  20. I wish Joel coupld spell "principal" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's one of those things you should learn while graduating from teenage angst blogging to commercial website.

  21. Re:I couldn't possibly comment by TechyImmigrant · · Score: 2

    Clearly I made the mistake of posting my throwaway comment that landed as the first post, so people responded to it.

    So I will add more detail:

    I don't develop process technology, but I get to design logic circuits on this technology and it is indeed rather awesome.
    After 20 years of gradual and steady feature size reduction, the switch to 22nm and beyond appears feels like a step in improvement way beyond the normal gradual improvement. In that sense it is rather awesome, because things that were previously too expensive to contemplate now start to look cheap and easy.

    --
    I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
  22. Re:I couldn't possibly comment by TechyImmigrant · · Score: 1

    That was 2007. I've been on the same gig for a while now.

    My job isn't a secret. It's quite public facing in some ways. But some things are not my secrets to give away, even though they are very nice things technologically speaking.

    --
    I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
  23. Re:I couldn't possibly comment by TechyImmigrant · · Score: 1

    I thought everyone who cared knew what I did. Google RdRand and RdSeed. That's my thing.

    --
    I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
  24. Re:Yeah but can it run... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    More cosmic rays at the terrestrial surface during min than max.

  25. Re:Yeah but can it run... by Tapewolf · · Score: 1

    Political correctness. Think about it for a second, you'll get it.

    Having pored over it for quite some time, I can only assume it's some peculiarity of US English which I will need help to see.

  26. Re:Yeah but can it run... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "The other thing is the 11-year solar cycle... if we develop some ultra-high density technology during the low ebb, we may find that half our electronics get frazzled during the solar maximum."

    Sounds like a story for a new bond movie or something.