The leaps in manufacturing processes represent increasingly important challenges. This is something that TSMC knows perfectly, and that is that the Taiwanese giant is already ready to start manufacturing chips in its 3nm node, something that if everything goes according to plan will take place at the end of this year. This node will remain the company’s leading node for a minimum of three years, since the jump to 2nm will not take place until 2026as we told you at the time.
When TSMC reaches the 2nm band it will be at the edge of the silicon limits, so one wonders what will come next. The Taiwanese company is very clear about it, they are going to make the leap to 1.4 nm, a node that, now, is challenging the limits of silicon. With such a small process the logic gates of the transistors are so thin that there is a very high risk of electrical leaks. If this happens, the transistors are not capable of adopting different states, with all that this implies.
Moving towards 1.4nm is going to be a huge challenge, but TSMC is willing to take it on, and to do so it plans to reallocate to the team in charge of the development of the 3nm node. According to reliable sources, this will happen sometime this June, which means that the Taiwanese giant will start working on the 1.4nm node at least four years before the arrival of the 2nm node. .
This detail is important, because it illustrates how complex the development of new semiconductor manufacturing processes can be, and the time they require. Keep in mind that to this development time, the time needed to complete the different production phases would have to be added later, that is, to finish the process of transferring the design from the semiconductor to the silicon wafer.
If you are wondering when we will be able to see the first chips manufactured on the 1.4nm node (14 angstroms) I think we will go to 2028 or 2029, at the earliest. For its part, the chip giant plans to launch the Intel 18A node (18 angstroms) in 2025, so it is likely that by 2028 it will have a new node ready to compete head-to-head with TSMC. What can I say, historical moments are coming for the semiconductor industry, and as lovers of technology we are very happy to be able to experience them in the first person. In the cover image you can see a wafer made with the Intel 18A node.
