Upcoming Events

Optimizing embedded RISC-V...

July 15 @ 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
IOT SECURITY: FROM NETWORK THROUGH EDGE...

July 15 @ 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Valor Process Preparation Webinar –...

July 15 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Asynchronous Circuit Design for...

July 15 @ 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Multi-Layer Capacitor (MLCC) Loss

July 16 @ 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Recent Samsung Foundry Articles

Can TSMC Maintain Their Process Technology Lead
by Scotten Jones April 29, 2020
IEDM 2019 – IBM and Leti
by Scotten Jones January 8, 2020
STT MRAM Highlights from IEDM 2019
by Don Draper January 2, 2020
TSMC, Huawei, the US Government, and China
by Daniel Nenni December 30, 2019
IEDM 2019 – TSMC 5nm Process
by Scotten Jones December 16, 2019
Why is Intel still short on chips?
by Daniel Nenni December 3, 2019
2020 Semiconductor Foundry Landscape Update!
by Daniel Nenni November 15, 2019
Samsung 2019 Technology Day Recap!
by Daniel Nenni November 1, 2019
Samsung Foundry Update 2019
by Tom Dillinger June 8, 2019
Silvaco Samsung and Excitement at 56thDAC
by Daniel Nenni May 25, 2019
TSMC and Samsung 5nm Comparison
by Scotten Jones May 3, 2019
Samsung 5nm and TSMC 6nm Update
by Daniel Nenni April 16, 2019
Semiconductor Foundry Landscape Update 2019
by Daniel Nenni March 29, 2019
A Detailed History of Samsung Semiconductor
by Daniel Nenni February 11, 2019
Samsung vs TSMC 7nm Update
by Daniel Nenni January 2, 2019
Samsung IEDM 2018 Keynote and the Foundry Business
by Daniel Nenni December 6, 2018
The Latest from Samsung Semiconductor
by Tom Dillinger October 29, 2018
UMC and GF or Samsung and GF?
by Daniel Nenni September 17, 2018
TSMC GlobalFoundries and Samsung Updates from 55DAC
by Daniel Nenni August 20, 2018
AMAT down 10% as expected Foundry spending slow down unexpected
by Robert Maire August 19, 2018

            WP_Term Object
(
    [term_id] => 20
    [name] => Samsung Foundry
    [slug] => samsung-foundry
    [term_group] => 0
    [term_taxonomy_id] => 20
    [taxonomy] => category
    [description] => 
    [parent] => 158
    [count] => 107
    [filter] => raw
    [cat_ID] => 20
    [category_count] => 107
    [category_description] => 
    [cat_name] => Samsung Foundry
    [category_nicename] => samsung-foundry
    [category_parent] => 158
)

WP_Term Object
(
    [term_id] => 20
    [name] => Samsung Foundry
    [slug] => samsung-foundry
    [term_group] => 0
    [term_taxonomy_id] => 20
    [taxonomy] => category
    [description] => 
    [parent] => 158
    [count] => 107
    [filter] => raw
    [cat_ID] => 20
    [category_count] => 107
    [category_description] => 
    [cat_name] => Samsung Foundry
    [category_nicename] => samsung-foundry
    [category_parent] => 158
)

January 2, 2019 by Daniel Nenni

Samsung vs TSMC 7nm Update

Samsung vs TSMC 7nm Update
by Daniel Nenni on 01-02-2019 at 7:00 am
Categories: Foundries, Samsung Foundry, TSMC
4 Comments

The semiconductor foundry business has gone through a dynamic transformation over the last 30 years. In the beginning the foundries were several process nodes behind the IDMs with little hope of catching up. Today the foundries are leading the process development race at 10nm – 7nm, and will continue to do so, absolutely.

If you look at the foundry landscape, TSMC has the advantage because they are TSMC, the trusted foundry partner with the most mature and complete ecosystem bar none. TSMC is also a process technology leader and fierce competitor.

The market for Samsung Foundry as I see it is three-fold:
[LIST=1]

They are not TSMC. Capacity is not an issue with Samsung and it is always good to have foundry options. TSMC and Samsung are the only two leading edge foundries left so this is a much bigger point than most imagine.

Technology. Leading edge fabless companies look for the best technology that will also meet their time to market requirements. Samsung was ahead of TSMC at 14nm and they did quite well at that node. At 10nm and 7nm Samsung was a bit behind TSMC but Samsung 7nm had EUV before TSMC so some fabless companies are now leading with Samsung.

Pricing. Samsung has the best wafer pricing the industry has ever seen. Being the largest memory manufacturer does have its advantages and wafer pricing is one of them.

To catch up with the latest on foundry process technology I talked to Scotten Jones, internationally recognized semiconductor expert and founder of IC Knowledge, a technology consulting company that models the economics of semiconductors. Scott has been writing for SemiWiki since 2014, his blogs are on the IC Knowledge landing page. Here are Scott’s latest thoughts on TSMC versus Samsung at 7nm:

Contacted Poly Pitch (CPP) – both TSMC and Samsung claim a CPP of 54nm for 7nm but for both of them I believe their actual CPP for cells is 57nm.
Metal 2 pitch (M2P) – Samsung is 36nm and TSMC is 40nm.
Tracks – Samsung minimum cell track height is 6.75 and TSMC is 6.0.
Diffusion break – TSMC optical process (7FF) is double diffusion break (DDB) and they are reported to be going to single diffusion break (SDB) for their EUV process (7FFP). Samsung 7nm has a 1[SUP]st[/SUP] generation process (I believe this is 7LPE) and it is DDB, they also have a second generation process (I believe this is 7LPP) that is also DDB. At VLSIT this year they talked about a 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] generation process with SDB. It is hard to know what this really is, at 10nm their second generation process was actually their 8nm process so this could be their 5nm process or it could really be a third generation 7nm process.
Transistor density – the minimum cell logic density for TSMC 7FF is slightly better than Samsung 7LPE or 7LPP. TSMC EUV 7FFP is slightly better than Samsung “3[SUP]rd[/SUP] generation” 7nm.
SRAM cell size – I think the SRAM cell size is the same for all three Samsung generations (I have a number for the 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] generation process) and both TSMC generations (I have a number for 7FF) but I am not positive. Samsung has a slightly smaller SRAM cell.

According to Scott, overall, the two processes are similar in density with TSMC leading in the ramp-up and likely yield and I agree, absolutely.

Comments

4 Replies to “Samsung vs TSMC 7nm Update”

You must register or log in to view/post comments.

Instance

Array
(
    [node_name] => Samsung Foundry
    [node_id] => Array
        (
            [0] => 2
        )

)

Nodes

Threads

Array ( [0] => tribe-events-list-widget-5 [1] => search-2 [2] => media_image-7 [3] => text-6 [4] => media_image-2 [5] => rpwe_widget-10 [6] => media_image-12 ) WP_Term Object ( [term_id] => 20 [name] => Samsung Foundry [slug] => samsung-foundry [term_group] => 0 [term_taxonomy_id] => 20 [taxonomy] => category [description] => [parent] => 158 [count] => 107 [filter] => raw [cat_ID] => 20 [category_count] => 107 [category_description] => [cat_name] => Samsung Foundry [category_nicename] => samsung-foundry [category_parent] => 158 )

Tribe__Events__List_Widget Instance: 5Array ( [title] => Upcoming Events [limit] => 5 [no_upcoming_events] => [featured_events_only] => [jsonld_enable] => 1 [rw_opt] => Array ( [widget_select] => 1 [pageid_281769] => 1 [pageid_281772] => 1 ) [display_widget_mobile] => 1 )

Array ( [title] => Upcoming Events [limit] => 5 [no_upcoming_events] => [featured_events_only] => [jsonld_enable] => 1 [rw_opt] => Array ( [widget_select] => 1 [pageid_281769] => 1 [pageid_281772] => 1 ) [display_widget_mobile] => 1 )

Upcoming Events

WP_Widget_Search Instance: 2Array ( [display_widget_title] => on [title] => Search Semiwiki [rw_opt] => Array ( [widget_select] => 1 [pageid_281769] => 1 [pageid_281772] => 1 ) [display_widget_mobile] => 1 [rw_opt_exclude] => Array ( ) )

Array ( [display_widget_title] => on [title] => Search Semiwiki [rw_opt] => Array ( [widget_select] => 1 [pageid_281769] => 1 [pageid_281772] => 1 ) [display_widget_mobile] => 1 [rw_opt_exclude] => Array ( ) )

WP_Widget_Media_Image Instance: 7Array ( [display_widget_title] => on [attachment_id] => 286638 [url] => https://semiwiki.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/cs500866115-56g-112g-eth-and-die2die-phy-ip-essentials-wemiwiki-webinar-ad-400x400-1.jpg [title] => [size] => full [width] => 400 [height] => 400 [caption] => [alt] => cs500866115 56g 112g eth and die2die phy ip essentials wemiwiki webinar ad 400x400 1 [link_type] => custom [link_url] => https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/693810935405992718?source=SemiWiki [image_classes] => [link_classes] => [link_rel] => [link_target_blank] => 1 [image_title] => [display_widget_mobile] => [rw_opt] => Array ( [widget_select] => 1 [pageid_276304] => 1 [pageid_281769] => 1 [pageid_281772] => 1 ) )

WP_Widget_Text Instance: 6Array ( [title] => [text] =>

High-Speed SerDes PHY IP for Up to 800G Hyperscale Data Centers Designing AI Accelerators with Innovative FinFET and FD-SOI Solutions [filter] => 1 [visual] => 1 [display_widget_mobile] => 1 [rw_opt] => Array ( [widget_select] => 1 [pageid_281769] => 1 [pageid_281772] => 1 ) )

Array ( [title] => [text] =>

WP_Widget_Media_Image Instance: 2Array ( [display_widget_title] => on [attachment_id] => 287602 [url] => https://semiwiki.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/webinar-button_SEMIWIKI_HirenM-1.jpg [title] => [size] => full [width] => 400 [height] => 400 [caption] => [alt] => webinar button SEMIWIKI HirenM 1 [link_type] => custom [link_url] => https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5706042442952012814?source=SemiWiki [image_classes] => [link_classes] => [link_rel] => [link_target_blank] => 1 [image_title] => [rw_opt] => Array ( [widget_select] => 1 [pageid_196276] => 1 [category_12] => 1 [category_7] => 1 [category_94] => 1 [pageid_276304] => 1 [pageid_281769] => 1 [pageid_281772] => 1 ) [display_widget_mobile] => )

Recent_Posts_Widget_Extended Instance: 10Array ( [title] => [title_url] => [ignore_sticky] => 1 [exclude_current] => 1 [limit] => 5 [offset] => 0 [order] => DESC [orderby] => date [post_type] => Array ( [0] => wiki ) [post_status] => publish [cat] => Array ( ) [tag] => Array ( ) [taxonomy] => wiki_category=15071,15072,15073 [excerpt] => [length] => 10 [date] => 1 [date_relative] => [date_modified] => [readmore] => [readmore_text] => Read More » [comment_count] => [thumb] => [thumb_height] => 45 [thumb_width] => 45 [thumb_default] => [thumb_align] => rpwe-alignleft [styles_default] => [cssID] => [css_class] => [css] => time.rpwe-time::before { content: " on "; } [before] =>

[after] => [rw_opt] => Array ( [widget_select] => 1 [pageid_281769] => 1 [pageid_281772] => 1 ) [display_widget_mobile] => )

WP_Widget_Media_Image Instance: 12Array ( [display_widget_title] => on [size] => full [width] => 400 [height] => 400 [caption] => [alt] => DAC Virtual 400x400 RegisterNow [link_type] => custom [link_url] => https://www.dac.com/ [image_classes] => [link_classes] => [link_rel] => [link_target_blank] => [image_title] => [attachment_id] => 287007 [url] => https://semiwiki.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/DAC-Virtual-400x400_RegisterNow.jpg [title] => [rw_opt] => Array ( [widget_select] => 1 [pageid_281769] => 1 [pageid_281772] => 1 ) [display_widget_mobile] => )

Array ( [0] => rpwe_widget-9 [1] => gtranslate-3 [2] => xfrp_widget-2 [3] => better_recent_comments-2 ) WP_Term Object ( [term_id] => 20 [name] => Samsung Foundry [slug] => samsung-foundry [term_group] => 0 [term_taxonomy_id] => 20 [taxonomy] => category [description] => [parent] => 158 [count] => 107 [filter] => raw [cat_ID] => 20 [category_count] => 107 [category_description] => [cat_name] => Samsung Foundry [category_nicename] => samsung-foundry [category_parent] => 158 )

Recent_Posts_Widget_Extended Instance: 9Array ( [title] => Trending Now [title_url] => [ignore_sticky] => 1 [exclude_current] => 1 [limit] => 5 [offset] => 10 [order] => DESC [orderby] => date [post_type] => Array ( [0] => post ) [post_status] => publish [cat] => Array ( ) [tag] => Array ( ) [taxonomy] => [excerpt] => [length] => 10 [date] => [date_relative] => [date_modified] => [readmore] => [readmore_text] => Read More [comment_count] => [thumb] => [thumb_height] => 55 [thumb_width] => 55 [thumb_default] => [thumb_align] => rpwe-alignleft [styles_default] => 1 [cssID] => [css_class] => [css] => .rpwe-block ul{ list-style: none !important; margin-left: 0 !important; padding-left: 0 !important; } .rpwe-block li{ border-bottom: 1px solid #eee; margin-bottom: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; list-style-type: none; } .rpwe-block a{ display: inline !important; text-decoration: none; } .rpwe-block h3{ background: none !important; clear: none; margin-bottom: 0 !important; margin-top: 0 !important; font-weight: 400; font-size: 12px !important; line-height: 1.5em; } .rpwe-thumb{ border: 1px solid #eee !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 2px 10px 2px 0; padding: 3px !important; } .rpwe-summary{ font-size: 12px; } .rpwe-time{ color: #bbb; font-size: 11px; } .rpwe-comment{ color: #bbb; font-size: 11px; padding-left: 5px; } .rpwe-alignleft{ display: inline; float: left; } .rpwe-alignright{ display: inline; float: right; } .rpwe-aligncenter{ display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; } .rpwe-clearfix:before, .rpwe-clearfix:after{ content: ""; display: table !important; } .rpwe-clearfix:after{ clear: both; } .rpwe-clearfix{ zoom: 1; } [before] => [after] => [rw_opt] => Array ( [widget_select] => 1 [pageid_281769] => 1 [pageid_281772] => 1 ) [display_widget_mobile] => )

GTranslateWidget Instance: 3Array ( [title] => Google Translate [rw_opt] => Array ( [pageid_281769] => 1 [pageid_281772] => 1 [widget_select] => 1 ) [display_widget_mobile] => )

XF2_Latest_Posts_Widget Instance: 2Array ( [title] => Recent Forum Threads [title_url] => [ignore_sticky] => 0 [exclude_current] => 0 [limit] => 8 [offset] => 0 [order] => [orderby] => ID [post_type] => Array ( [0] => post ) [post_status] => [cat] => Array ( ) [tag] => Array ( ) [taxonomy] => [excerpt] => [length] => 0 [date] => [date_relative] => [date_modified] => [readmore] => [readmore_text] => [comment_count] => [thumb] => [thumb_height] => 0 [thumb_width] => 0 [thumb_default] => [thumb_align] => [styles_default] => [cssID] => [css_class] => [css] => [before] => [after] => [display_widget_mobile] => 1 [rw_opt] => Array ( [widget_select] => 1 [pageid_281769] => 1 [pageid_281772] => 1 ) [sluglist] => ["jobs-dashboard"] [rw_opt_exclude] => Array ( [pageid_274493] => 1 ) )

Array ( [title] => Recent Forum Threads [title_url] => [ignore_sticky] => 0 [exclude_current] => 0 [limit] => 8 [offset] => 0 [order] => [orderby] => ID [post_type] => Array ( [0] => post ) [post_status] => [cat] => Array ( ) [tag] => Array ( ) [taxonomy] => [excerpt] => [length] => 0 [date] => [date_relative] => [date_modified] => [readmore] => [readmore_text] => [comment_count] => [thumb] => [thumb_height] => 0 [thumb_width] => 0 [thumb_default] => [thumb_align] => [styles_default] => [cssID] => [css_class] => [css] => [before] => [after] => [display_widget_mobile] => 1 [rw_opt] => Array ( [widget_select] => 1 [pageid_281769] => 1 [pageid_281772] => 1 ) [sluglist] => ["jobs-dashboard"] [rw_opt_exclude] => Array ( [pageid_274493] => 1 ) )

Barn2\Plugin\Better_Recent_Comments\Widget Instance: 2Array ( [title] => Recent Article Comments [number] => 8 [avatar] => [date] => 1 [comment] => 1 [link] => 1 [display_widget_mobile] => 1 [rw_opt] => Array ( [widget_select] => 1 [pageid_281769] => 1 [pageid_281772] => 1 ) [rw_opt_exclude] => Array ( [pageid_274493] => 1 ) )

Array ( [title] => Recent Article Comments [number] => 8 [avatar] => [date] => 1 [comment] => 1 [link] => 1 [display_widget_mobile] => 1 [rw_opt] => Array ( [widget_select] => 1 [pageid_281769] => 1 [pageid_281772] => 1 ) [rw_opt_exclude] => Array ( [pageid_274493] => 1 ) )

Upcoming Events

Search Semiwiki

Recent Samsung Foundry Articles

Comments

4 Replies to “Samsung vs TSMC 7nm Update”

Sponsor

Upcoming Events

Search Semiwiki

Recent Samsung Foundry Press

Recent Article Comments