In the meantime, the industry ‘s voice is not to be’ other criteria ‘for the Nanometer (NM) unit process, which was used as a semiconductor process evaluation standard.
The process name based on the transistor length was valid in the two-dimensional plane transistor.
However, since 2010, a three-dimensional pinfet transistor appears, and a phenomenon that does not match the number and actual transistor lengths in front of the process.
For this reason, in recent semiconductor industry, it is a claim that a new criterion for assessing the progress of the process is required.
Transistor density per chip unit area, and performance per watt are mentioned as a major candidate. However, both the two criteria have a blind spot that there is no fully illegal showing the semiconductor characteristics.
■ 3D transistor, fair progress evaluation is more complicated
Until now, Global Semiconductors, such as TSMC, Intel, and Samsung Electronics, are used to represent the microidians of the process, which controls the flow of electrons in the transistor.
The recall the length of the gate, the more transistors in the same area. For this reason, many semiconductor companies showed a progress of the process based on the length of the transistor gate. However, since 2010, a Finfet transistor (Finfet) (FinFET) transistor, which has appeared, and the blind spot began to occur on these criteria.
Existing transistors were unfolded, but the exact length measurement was difficult while folding it in a three-dimensional structure. A phenomenon that does not match the number and actual transistor length in front of the process.
Here, the Gate Overcoming (GAA) transistor to appear here is also makes the problem more complicated.
The GAA transistor wraps all aspects of the transistor internal gate and is made in a manner that stacks it vertically. Only one layer will be used as a measurement criterion, or if it would cause a number of layers to the area, the progress of the process may vary depending on.
■ The semiconductor industry is also a nanometer criteria
In the semiconductor industry, a skepticism is causing a meeting that it is meaningful to comply with the fair superiority of each manufacturer (foundry) on a nanometer (NM) basis from a few years ago.
In May of May, the US MIT, Stanford, UC Berkeley and Taiwan TSMC researchers have been applied to the meaning of semiconductor companies, .
Philip Wong TSMC The Vice President, Vice President of the TSMC Research, said, In the Hot Chem 31 , a semiconductor industry, Today, this (in front of the process) is just a number, and it is just a number, and it only points to the next process. Do not be confused, he said.
■ Excellence with the number of transistors per unit area
For this reason, there is an opinion that a new standard for evaluating the progress of the semiconductor process instead of the nanometer is. The most potent is the number of transistors per unit area (square millimeter).
The more transistors in the same area, the better the better performance. US MIT, Stanford, UC Berkeley and Taiwan TSMC researchers also suggested measurement composed of three items such as memory ministries, transistors and memory connections.
However, the current semiconductor development direction is implementing the necessary functions to implement different semiconductors produced in several processes. This is because the features provided are more complicated than the past and can not put everything on a chip.
For example, you can combine the processor produced by a company and a graphical chipset produced by B company and can be made of one product.
At this time, it will be a complicated problem, such as whether the unit area will be viewed by the entire chip, or by each chip, and the integration of the processor and the graphics chipset, and then the average is to be followed.
■ ARM Integrated pottery … Performance per watt
The transistor integration also comes from the opinion that other criteria should be applied.
Robdeken ARM Technology Pellow, Pellow, the official blog from the official blog gate of the 12th (British Local Time), Performance Performance Improvement Criteria of the Processor must be measured by Performance Per Watt per Watt.
Rob At Ken argued that The latest processor design will be a new paradigm that is a new paradigm, as the latest processor design is an important performance improvement indicator of important performance enhancements. It means that it is based on how much power is used to handle the same task.
The problem is that there is no criteria for measuring performance per watt. The commands and processing methods that can be processed for each processor or chip are different and the highest efficiency is different.
In the end, there is no pointed alternative in addition to the process notation using nanometer-based numbers.
