TSMC, the world’s largest halfgeleiderproducent, wants to transition to larger, 450mm wafers, but that will only be in 2018. For this step, no changes to equipment required that allows miljardeninvesteringen are involved.
The ever-increasing demand for chips to ever-smaller processes manufactured need to be, requires constant innovation by manufacturers. A major step in the development of this technique would be the use of 450mm wafers. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited who would be moved initially in 2015 or 2016, but why those plans have been postponed, is not known. In 2016 or 2017 would testwafers be produced in TSMC’s factories, with mass production in 2018.
TSMC was in 2011, still plan to be in 2016 450mm wafers to produce a 2xnm (20 to 29 nanometer) process, but would be in 2018 or directly to the 1xnm (10 to 19 nanometer) process start. That would be even with immersielithografie should happen; its successor, euv lithography, would still not be ready for mass production.
The most high-end chips, such as desktop and laptopprocessors, graphic chips for video cards and socs for tablets and smartphones, will be manufactured on 300mm wafers. For such 300mm wafers, the discs of silicon on which the transistors are etched, the latest 32nm-, 28nm and 22nm processes used. Simpler chips, such as chipsets for motherboards, often with older equipment made with ‘coarser’ technology, such as 65nm-, 90nm or older lithography.
Chipproductie is a long process and as chips become more complex, the time it takes for it to be longer. A wafer goes through many stages and is often two months under treatment before the individual chips can be cut out. A larger wafer delivers logically, more chips, and per unit of time in the factory delivers a 450mm-wafer, therefore, a more cost-effective production process. The advantage of 450mm wafers is, however, not simple. So should all the ‘tooling’, the equipment of ASML and other suppliers, custom. That are investments that cost billions.