In his speech, Luo Zhenqiu introduced TSMC's current layout in advanced processes and advanced packaging, and announced that TSMC will launch a new N5A process platform for automotive electronics in the third quarter of next year, which will fully comply with automotive grade sta

On December 22, the China Integrated Circuit Design Industry 2021 Annual Conference and Wuxi Integrated Circuit Industry Innovation and Development Summit Forum (ICCAD 2021) was held. In the keynote speech session that morning, Luo Zhenqiu, general manager of TSMC (Nanjing) Co., Ltd., gave a keynote speech titled "A New Era for the Semiconductor Industry."

During his speech, Luo Zhenqiu introduced TSMC’s current layout in advanced processes and advanced packaging, and announced that TSMC will launch a new N5A process platform for automotive electronics in the third quarter of next year, which will fully comply with automotive regulations. .

Moore's Law continues to be valid, TSMC will mass produce 3nm in 2023

In recent years, as the shrinkage of transistors has become more and more difficult, UMC and GlobalFoundries have successively abandoned the research and development of advanced processes below 10nm. Moore's Law The number one practitioner, and Intel , also continues to slow down in the advancement of semiconductor processes. There have been many claims in the industry about "Moore's Law slowing down" or "Moore's Law failing".

Regarding this, Luo Zhenqiu said, "Although many people say that Moore's Law is slowing down or gradually disappearing, in fact, TSMC is using our process to prove that Moore's Law is still advancing. TSMC's 7nm It was launched in 2018, and 5nm was launched in 2020. We will launch the 3nm process as scheduled in 2022, and our 2nm process is also being developed smoothly. "

As we all know, for the process, we mainly focus on three things. Indicators in several aspects: performance, power consumption and area. From the figures in the figure above, we can see that from 7nm to 5nm to 3nm, the number of transistors per unit area will increase by 1.7 to 1.8 times compared to the previous generation, and the performance will increase by more than 10% in each generation. . The power consumption part is also the same as before. Under the same performance, power consumption can be reduced by 20%.

Luo Zhenqiu emphasized: "Even during the epidemic, the development of semiconductor technology has not slowed down and continues to advance at the original pace."

Although there are recent rumors that TSMC's 3nm process development has encountered difficulties, it may This resulted in a delay in the launch of 3nm. However, Luo Zhenqiu said in an exclusive interview with Core Intelligence after the meeting that those are just rumors and we will mass produce 3nm as scheduled.

According to TSMC’s official data, TSMC’s 3nm has a 1.7-fold increase in logic density and an 11% improvement in performance compared to the previous generation’s 5nm process. Power consumption can be reduced by 25-30% under the same performance.

As for how to achieve further shrinkage of transistors in the future, Luo Zhenqiu revealed that there are two main directions:

. Changing the structure of the transistor: Currently Samsung has decided to adopt a new surround gate transistor (GAA) structure at 3nm. TSMC 3nm is still a fin field effect transistor (FinFET) structure. However, TSMC has been developing Nanosheet/Nanowire transistor structures (similar to GAA) for more than 15 years and has achieved very solid performance.

. Change the material of the transistor: For example, you can use two-dimensional material to make the transistor. Because it is thinner, the power control can be better, and the performance can be stronger.

"TSMC will go hand in hand in these two directions." Luo Zhenqiu said.

Another direction of continuing the economic benefits of Moore's Law: 3D packaging

As we all know, Moore's Law is not just "the number of transistors doubles every 18-24 months", but also the price of obtaining this doubled transistor must be maintained constant. But in fact, with the continuous advancement of advanced manufacturing processes, the costs required by both chip manufacturers and consumers have continued to increase in recent years.

So how to maintain the economic benefits of Moore's Law? 3D packaging technology!

3D packaging technology is considered to be a solution that can maintain the system-level performance improvement of the entire chip while keeping the cost under control.It can double the number of transistors per unit volume, and only some of the transistors may require advanced processes.

Luo Zhenqiu said that TSMC has been laying out 3D packaging for more than 10 years. At present, TSMC has integrated advanced packaging-related technologies into the "3DFabric" platform, including the integrated system on chip (SoIC) for the front-end, the integrated fan-out (InFO) for the back-end packaging, and the CoWoS series family.

"If at some chip company's press conference, you see that its packaging area is larger than 20mm×20mm, then it is most likely made using 2.5D packaging or 3D packaging technology. In the future, you will continue to see more adoption. Products using TSMC’s 3D packaging technology are not only smaller in size, but also have stronger performance,” Luo Zhenqiu said.

Integrated circuit technology development trend

Regarding the development trend of integrated circuit technology, Luo Zhenqiu believes that there will be three major directions:

. The transistors manufactured by wafer will continue to shrink; 2. 3D integration means stacking many chips. , make a three-dimensional wafer structure; 3. Software and hardware collaborative design. When the customer defines a product, let the hardware and software developers think about the problem together, and cut it when designing the chip. into blocks (chiplets, cores) one by one, and then define the specifications of each block to see which block uses what process is most suitable, so that 3D packaging technology can be efficiently used to achieve it at a lower cost. Meets expected performance and power consumption.

Luo Zhenqiu revealed: "The latest chip launched by TSMC currently has more than 50 billion transistors. If you look at the 3D IC at the system level, the most launched one has more than 300 billion transistors. This is what TSMC has so far It has been done and will continue to advance in the future.”

The five cores of semiconductor manufacturing

In Luo Zhenqiu’s view, semiconductor technology has five core focuses: First, whether the performance can continue to improve, and whether the speed can continue to be improved. Faster; second, can the power consumption continue to be reduced and save more power? Especially in the wearable field, it is particularly important; third, can the chip area continue to become smaller; fourth, can it provide a complete and comprehensive process platform, so that a complete and efficient product can be made; fifth, the product The quality must be very stable to make the products safe and reliable.

"For example, in addition to the main chip, a mobile phone also has a radio frequency chip, power management chip , image sensor, etc. It also includes many analog chips, radio frequency chips, embedded memory chips, and human-computer interaction interfaces. technology, optical technology, visual technology, acoustic technology, mobile tracking technology, and biometric information identification technology. Only by bringing these chips and technologies together can we create a useful product. Therefore, a complete and comprehensive process platform is very important to us. What’s important is not only the nanometer process of digital chips, but also the processes in analog, radio frequency, embedded storage, etc. I think the processes of each platform must go hand in hand to make effective and easy-to-use products,” Luo Zhenqiu further explained. arrive.

The most advanced automotive chip process platform N5A

According to reports from Taiwanese media, nearly 90% of the global automotive microcontroller (MCU) market is concentrated in the world's top six IDM manufacturers, of which 60% to 70% are outsourced. % of automotive MCU are manufactured by TSMC.

Therefore, after the automotive chip shortage broke out at the end of last year, at the beginning of this year, the United States, European Union and other governments communicated with TSMC, hoping to ensure the supply of automotive chips. Subsequently, TSMC also began to actively increase production of automotive MCUs. Data previously released by TSMC showed that TSMC’s automotive MCU production this year will increase by 60% compared with last year.

It should be pointed out that compared with the level of other consumer chips, the current market size of automotive semiconductors is still relatively small, and most of it is mainly occupied by leading IDM manufacturers, so foundries such as TSMC take The amount of automotive chip foundry orders received is also relatively limited.

According to data, the total output value of global automotive semiconductors in 2020 was US$37.4 billion, of which the revenue contributed by TSMC only accounted for 4.07% of global automotive semiconductors.

However, as cars become electrified, connected, and intelligent, the demand for semiconductors in cars is experiencing explosive growth. For this reason, TSMC has also begun to increase its layout in the field of automotive electronics.

In the post-meeting interview, Luo Zhenqiu also told Xinzhixun that automotive electronics is a market that TSMC is very optimistic about. Although the current increase in the entire automobile market is relatively limited, the replacement of traditional fuel vehicles by electric vehicles is a very large market, and every electric vehicle will become intelligent, networked, and even autonomous. With the improvement of technology level, the demand for automotive semiconductors will increase many times, so there are very large market opportunities in this field.

At this ICCAD 2021 conference, Luo Zhenqiu announced TSMC’s 5nm process platform “N5A” for automotive chips for ADAS and smart digital cockpits. This continues TSMC’s most advanced automotive electronics processes after 16nm and 7nm.

According to reports, N5A will comply with automotive process standards such as AEC-Q100, ISO26262, and IATF16949. It will be launched in the third quarter of 2022.

Luo Zhenqiu emphasized that automotive electronics is a process technology that pays most attention to safety and reliability in the world. It will be used in assisted driving, smart cockpits, or future autonomous driving. All its safety and reliability Very important, its requirements in this regard are much higher than performance and power consumption.

Invest 100 billion US dollars in three years; achieve net zero emissions in 2050

In the future, we will continue to promote research and development in advanced processes and advanced packaging, as well as improvements in production capacity. TSMC has previously announced that it will invest a total of more than 1,000 US dollars in 2021, 2022, and 2023. One hundred million U.S. dollars.

In addition, in order to achieve sustainable development and comply with the global trend of carbon reduction, TSMC has established a long-term goal for carbon emissions, that is, to achieve zero growth in carbon emissions in 2025 and reduce carbon emissions to 2020 levels by 2030. , achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

"There is no way to compromise on energy conservation and emission reduction. This is a matter for all mankind. We will definitely use our greatest efforts to save energy and reduce emissions, because semiconductor manufacturing is a high energy consumption industry. We will be committed to energy conservation, emission reduction and waste reduction. Let this industry continue to develop without affecting the global environment. ”

Author: Xinzhixun-Rurounijian