TECH

According to Taiwanese sources, TSMC has started pilot production of 3nm chips, but faces manufacturing problems

The mass launch of ordering solutions from Apple, AMD, Qualcomm and others are planning to start production of this technology in the fourth quarter of 2022. And everything would be fine, but the problem of delaying the technical processes for packaging complex multichip solutions has surfaced and without that, real progress will be delayed

It's no secret that the future of more advanced semiconductor solutions lies in the creation of massively heterogeneous structures. Crystals on a composite chip will be arranged horizontally and vertically. In this case, the number of interchip connections will continually increase and this will affect the diameter or area of ​​the contacts. The contact pitch will have to be reduced or the chips will quickly start to increase in size. But, as TSMC admitted, the company is having difficulty scaling interconnects below 2 microns.

It turns out that TSMC successfully handles the production of crystals using the most advanced technological processes, but packing multiple crystals into a common block (box) using intermediates and substrates starts to lag behind. According to the company's goals, with each new generation of chips, the contact pitch should be reduced by 70%. As far as the 3 nm technical process is concerned, this condition, judging by the statements, is not met. What is the threat? At the very least, production will get more expensive until TSMC or its chip packaging subcontractors overcome the hurdles.

AVnews