TSMC on 3nm : 3x silicon density over 7nm, 51% less power, 32% faster

We are beginning to hear more about TSMC's next-gen 3nm process technology, with the company detailing it during its annual Technology Symposium.

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TSMC, the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, has detailed its new 3nm (N3) process node. The company said it would go into risk production in 2021, and then into mass production in the second half of 2022. In between now and then, it will have 5nm (N5) which it also provided some details on.

The new 5nm node will be followed up by the 5nm+ (N5P) -- and somewhere in the middle of that we have the 4nm (N4) node -- both N5P and N4 will be enhanced versions of N5 -- which is already in high volume manufacturing.

5nm has 15% more performance than 7nm, all at the same power draw -- or TSMC customers (like AMD, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, etc) can choose a 30% power reduction at the same performance. Not only that, but 5nm will pave the way for a large 1.8x increase in silicon density.

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5nm+ will have a 5% frequency increase over the 5nm, or a 10% power reduction -- but the fun really begins at 3nm where TSMC is promising a huge 25-30% power reduction while still packing the same performance of 5nm, or a 10-15% performance increase with the same power consumption, all with a 1.7x increase in silicon density.

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• TSMC could move beyond silicon for sub-3nm: TSMC said that it is working to define the next node that will follow N3, teasing that it is looking at nanosheets and nanowires as beyond silicon materials. The company is also looking at high mobility channels, 2D transistors, and carbon nanotubes for future tech.
• Research into 'materials BEYOND silicon' began in 2019: Yeah, this isn't new -- TSMC kick started its research into materials beyond silicon in 2019, where they announced a new R&D facility in Taiwan that would be creating what would be some of the most next level technology on this planet.

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More reading about TSMC:

• TSMC is opening up a next-gen 5nm fab in the USA thanks to President Trump
• TSMC has a $16 billion slush fund for R&D
• TSMC is planning 5nm volume production in late 2020
• 3nm is planned for trial production in first half of 2021
• EUV lithography will be used for TSMC's new 2nm node
• TSMC market cap hits record level, now beating NVIDIA and Samsung
• TSMC super-charges R&D of its next-gen 2nm node
• TSMC rumored to build bleeding edge silicon plant in the US, 5nm first
• The White House talking with Intel, TSMC to set up factories in the US
• NVIDIA, AMD purchase ALL excess capacity at TSMC for next-gen GPU/CPUs
• TSMC sparks research into materials BEYOND silicon
• TSMC makes progress on 5nm, should have 5nm chips in 2020