user_2013101
Banned
but I would say it's almost impossible to start with 90% yield in a new node.
The 16FF+ is not exactly a “new node” per se. It is, as I stated before, the final stage of a carefully planned and executed "phrased approach", to overcome the hurdles of FinFET at 14/16nm that still bog down Intel and Samsung.
The 16FF+ is built on the top of the basic 16FF, whose risk production started back in Nov 2013. That is, it took a whole year to reach the plus version’s high "initial" yield. It would be 3 years if counting from the beginning of 20nm.
It’s feasible to begin the volume production with good yields immediately – the ultimate goal of this gradual approach anyway.
TSMC didn’t deliver any miracle; it brilliantly accumulated the accomplishments of prior nodes to render a seemingly sudden success of 16FF+. The fact that 90% of equipments are identical between 20nm and 16nm productions testifies to this programmatic and accumulative approach.
It misses the big picture to claim that Intel’s 14nm leads by a generation because TSMC’s 16nm is 20nm with FinFET, which is merely a stepping stone on the way to 16FF+. Not to mention that 20nm A8 demonstrates higher transistor density than 14nm Core-M.
I expect the 16FF+ to exceed Intel’s 14nm at least in some areas, such as density and application versatility.
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