CHIPS & AI
·
10/15/2015
SMIC 28nm: The Hard Wall Before the Leading Edge
SMIC 28nm reached volume in 2015, four years late after a long yield struggle, just as the leading edge moved to FinFET and left…
4 MIN
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CATEGORY_INDEX // 78 ENTRIES
TSMC
APPLE
·
09/25/2015
TSMC’s 16nm FinFET: The First 3D Transistor and a Split A9
TSMC's 16nm FinFET delivered the first 3D transistor the 20nm shrink withheld, drew level with Intel on structure, and split the Apple A9 with…
3 MIN
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APPLE
·
04/10/2015
Samsung 14nm FinFET: The Node That Beat TSMC
Samsung 14nm FinFET shipped before TSMC's 16nm, powering the Galaxy S6's Exynos 7420 and winning back Qualcomm and a share of Apple's A9.
3 MIN
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CHIPS & AI
·
09/22/2014
TSMC’s 20nm Node: The Last Planar Process and the Apple A8
TSMC's 20nm node won the Apple A8 but proved planar scaling had stalled: double patterning made it costly with no power win, and 16nm…
3 MIN
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CHIPS & AI
·
09/05/2014
Intel 14nm: The First Crack in the Metronome
Intel 14nm arrived late in Broadwell, the first schedule slip in a decade. The node was still the best in the world, but the…
3 MIN
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APPLE
·
09/20/2013
Samsung 28nm: The 64-Bit A7 and Apple’s Last Dance
Samsung 28nm built the 64-bit Apple A7 and its Cyclone core, the chip that blindsided Qualcomm and the whole industry, just as Apple prepared…
4 MIN
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CHIPS & AI
·
08/14/2012
Krait Just Put the LTE Modem on the Die, and That Is the Whole Story
The Snapdragon S4, launched in February, integrates a custom dual-core Krait CPU and LTE modem on a single chip, enhancing efficiency. Qualcomm's innovative design…
4 MIN
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CHIPS & AI
·
05/31/2012
Samsung 32nm: The Apple A5 and a Gate-First Gamble
Samsung's 32nm gate-first HKMG process die-shrank the Apple A5 in 2012 and powered Samsung's own Galaxy S III, deepening the foundry bond even as…
4 MIN
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CHIPS & AI
·
04/29/2012
Intel 22nm: Tri-Gate and a Three-Year FinFET Lead
Intel 22nm shipped Tri-Gate in Ivy Bridge, the first FinFET in volume production, three years ahead of the foundries, with Intel promising 14nm next…
4 MIN
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CHIPS & AI
·
10/17/2011
TSMC’s 28nm Node, Gate-Last HKMG, and the FinFET Clock
TSMC's 28nm node brought gate-last high-k metal gate just as every mobile chip designer arrived at once, triggering a capacity crunch, while Intel's Tri-Gate…
4 MIN
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CHIPS & AI
·
06/20/2011
SMIC 45nm: The Mature-Node Foundry Finds Its Floor
SMIC 45nm was the company's most current node yet, reached two years behind the leaders, the year after SMIC turned its first profit since…
4 MIN
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APPLE
·
06/08/2010
Samsung 45nm: Building the Apple A4 for a Rival
Samsung 45nm silicon built the Apple A4, Apple's first in-house chip, on the same Intrinsity Hummingbird core Samsung put in the Galaxy S, even…
4 MIN
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CES
·
01/07/2010
Intel 32nm: The Metronome at Full Speed
Intel 32nm arrived on schedule with second-generation high-k metal gate and Intel's first immersion lithography, extending a two-year lead while the company quietly ceded…
4 MIN
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CHIPS & AI
·
11/12/2009
SMIC 65nm and the Price of Catching Up
SMIC 65nm arrived in November 2009, the week TSMC won its trade-secret case, took a stake of up to 10 percent, and founder Richard…
4 MIN
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CHIPS & AI
·
10/19/2009
TSMC’s 40nm Node: When Immersion Lithography Became a Yield Crisis
TSMC's 40nm node turned immersion lithography into a yield crisis in 2009, choked AMD and Nvidia GPU supply, drew Morris Chang back as CEO,…
4 MIN
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