TSMC Steps Through 7, 6, 5, Moore

Moore’s law countdown delivers process, package advances

By Rick Merritt, EETimes
April 24, 2019

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — TSMC added an N5P process and more details on advanced packages to its roadmap for squeezing advances from silicon at an annual event here.

At the bleeding edge, picking a path forward among expanding 7, 7+, 6, 5, and 5+ options is increasingly complex. “The good news is we continue to see scaling for the foreseeable future,” Yuh-Jier Mii, a senior vice president for technology development for TSMC, told an audience of about 2,000 attendees.

Even chief executive C.C. Wei cracked a joke over TSMC’s news last week of a 6-nm option that will start risk production a year after its previously announced 5-nm node. “I had to ask my R&D people what their thinking was — was that for fun?” he quipped in a keynote. “Next time, you won’t be surprised if I release an N5.5.

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