TSMC set to spend $5billion on additional capacity
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Leading foundry TSMC is spending some $5billion to build its leading edge production capacity, expanding Fabs 12 (pictured) and 14 in Hsinchu and starting construction of a new 'gigafab' called Fab 15 in Tainan. The fab will be able to handle more than 100,000 12in wafers per month when in full production.
Shang-Yi Chiang, senior vp of R&D, said TSMC will continue to use planar transistors for the while, but will start to shift to FinFETs from the 14nm node.
"Moving forward, it is likely we will … begin to use germanium or gallium arsenide as a channel material to enhance mobility. From the device physics point of view, FinFET transistors would allow us to carry on to about 7 to 8nm, so we still have about four generations to go based on the technology we know today."
Pointing out the key measure for interconnect performance is resistance and capacitance, Chiang said: "Everybody is trying to improve their interconnect speed by reducing capacitance using low K material. TSMC was the first company to ship low-K product and is the first to introduce a second generation low-K material. And we are the first to begin improving resistance – we call this low-R."
Lithography continues to be an important issue for TSMC. Chiang pointed out: "We have been using 193nm immersion lithography and will continue to use this for 20nm production. If extreme ultraviolet or multiple e-beam direct write become cost effective, we will switch to that because mass production for 20nm will begin in 2013."
