TSMC announces its A16 node. This '1.6nm' process once again features gate-all-around transistors, just like the company's upcoming 2nm nodes. The Taiwanese chipmaker wants to start mass production on A16 in the second half of 2026.
TSMC announced the news during its American Technology Symposium 2024. It is the first time that the chipmaker has expanded its plans beyond the 2nm family announces publicly. With the A16 node, the manufacturer is also switching to a new naming system. Instead of the 'N' for 'nanometer', the brand name of the process starts with the 'A' for ångström. One angstrom is equal to 0.1nm, which means that A16 is being marketed as a 1.6nm node.
The new A16 process is based on gate-all-around transitors, also known as nanosheets. TSMC also provides the new 1.6nm node with backside power delivery. As the name suggests, this moves the power supply to the bottom of the chip. Currently it is located on the top, but this increasingly leads to space problems in combination with the signal processing networks, which are also on the top of the chip. Backside power delivery solves that problem and can therefore provide better performance and higher transistor densities.
:strip_exif()/i/2006663022.png?f=imagemedium)
: strip_exif()/i/2006663024.png?f=imagemedium)