We finally know when their 1.2 and 1.3 nm chips will arrive

TSMC has revealed which photolithography will be ready for large-scale chip manufacturing over the next three years. The largest producer of semiconductors of the planet has made its itinerary official just a few hours ago during its North American Technology Symposium, which was held yesterday in Santa Clara (USA). And the technologies it has presented put an unappealable reality on the table: this Taiwanese company is determined to continue leading the integrated circuit manufacturing industry.

To achieve this in 2029, it will have the A12 and A13 integration technologies ready for large-scale production, which are nothing more than derivatives of its A14 photolithography. From a commercial point of view these will be TSMC’s first 1.2 and 1.3 nm technologies, although it is important that users do not overlook that nanometers no longer faithfully reflect the length of the logic gates or another physical parameter, such as the distance between the transistors.

Each chip manufacturer handles them very freely, which prevents users from directly comparing the lithographs they try to “sell” us. The disconnection between the nomenclature and the physical reality of integrated circuits is now almost absolute, but nanometers are still useful to identify the degree of development of each photolithography within the portfolio of each semiconductor manufacturer. Having said this, it is worth investigating what TSMC is preparing.

A technical feat: A12 and A13 without using ASML’s High-NA machines

Kevin Zhang, TSMC’s deputy chief operating officer, has clarified something very important: “I am amazed by our R&D team. They continue to find ways to drive technological development without using ASML UVE High-NA equipment. Someday we may have to use them, but right now we can continue to reap the benefits of current EUV technology without moving to High-NA which, as we all know, is extremely expensive.” That’s impressive. TSMC is going to continue developing very competitive lithography over the next three years without resorting to High-NA machines.

In the slide that we publish below these lines we can see that in 2028 TSMC’s most advanced lithographic node for the consumer market will be the A14, which will use GAA transistors (Gate-All-Around) second generation. Mass production of consumer chips with A13 lithography will start in 2029 and will take A14 integration technology as its base platform. This simply means that the A13 lithography will be the result of the refinement of the A14.

According to TSMC, the A13 integration technology is an optical optimization of the A14, which in practice will allow it to achieve a 6% higher transistor density while maintaining compatibility between the two. On the other hand, N2U lithography will arrive in 2028, which is also aimed at the consumer market. It will be an extension of the N2 platform (2 nm) and will deliver performance, again according to TSMC forecasts, between 3% and 4% higher than N2P, as well as consumption between 8% and 10% lower.

Finally, A12 lithography will arrive in 2029 with the A13, although it will be mainly intended for chips for data centers. It will use, like A13, second generation GAA transistors and NanoFlex Pro technology. The latter will allow IC designers to use fast cells for the critical parts of the GPU that need speed, and dense or efficient cells for the rest, thus optimizing the chip area down to the last millimeter. NanoFlex Pro is one of the innovations with which TSMC seeks to protect its technological leadership with the purpose that its chip customers for artificial intelligence (AI), such as Nvidia, AMD or Cerebras, continue to turn to it and not to Samsung or Intel.

Image | TSMC

More information | TSMC | Tom’s Hardware

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