Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a world leader in advanced semiconductor
technology, today announced its ongoing commitment to foundry innovation
and service at the Samsung Foundry Forum 2019 USA, providing the silicon
community with wide-ranging updates on technology advances that support
the most demanding applications of today and tomorrow.
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President ES Jung at Samsung Foundry Forum 2019 (Photo: Business Wire)
The event, held today in Santa Clara, California, features top Samsung
executives and industry experts reviewing progress on semiconductor
technologies and foundry platform solutions that enable developments in
artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, 5G networking,
automotive, the Internet of Things (IoT), advanced data centers and many
other domains.
“We stand at the verge of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, a new era of
high-performance computing and connectivity that will advance the daily
lives of everyone on the planet,” said Dr. ES Jung, President and head
of Foundry Business at Samsung Electronics.
“Samsung Electronics fully understands that achieving powerful and
reliable silicon solutions requires not only the most advanced
manufacturing and packaging processes as well as design solutions, but
also collaborative foundry-customer relationships grounded on trust and
shared vision. This year’s Foundry Forum is filled with compelling
evidence of our commitment to progress in all those areas, and we’re
honored to host and converse with our industry’s best and brightest,”
Dr. Jung added.
Highlights from the U.S. Foundry Forum include:
The new 3nm GAE PDK version 0.1 is ready
Samsung’s 3nm Gate-All-Around (GAA) process, 3GAE, development is on
track. The company noted today that its Process Design Kit (PDK) version
0.1 for 3GAE has been released in April to help customers get an early
start on the design work and enable improved design competitiveness
along with reduced turnaround time (TAT).
Compared to 7nm technology, Samsung’s 3GAE process is designed to
provide up to a 45 percent reduction in chip area with 50 percent lower
power consumption or 35 percent higher performance. The GAA-based
process node is expected to be widely adopted in next-generation
applications, such as mobile, network, automotive, Artificial
Intelligence (AI) and IoT.
Conventional GAA based on nanowire requires a larger number of stacks
due to its small effective channel width. On the other hand, Samsung’s
patented version of GAA, MBCFET™ (Multi-Bridge-Channel FET), uses a
nanosheet architecture, enabling greater current per stack.
While FinFET structures must modulate the number of fins in a discrete
way, MBCFET™ provides greater design flexibility by controlling the
nanosheet width. In addition, MBCFET™’s compatibility with FinFET
processes means the two can share the same manufacturing technology and
equipment, which accelerates process development and production ramp-up.
Samsung recently taped out the 3GAE test vehicle design and will focus
on improving its performance and power efficiency going forward.
For more information, please refer to the Newsroom links for GAA
infographic and video
clip.
The launching of a new SAFE™-Cloud program
As part of its ongoing efforts to support and enhance customers’ entire
design workflow, Samsung Electronics launched the Samsung Advanced
Foundry Ecosystem Cloud (SAFE™-Cloud) program. It will provide customers
with a more flexible design environment through collaboration with major
public cloud service providers, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and
Microsoft Azure, as well as leading Electronic Design Automation (EDA)
companies, including Cadence and Synopsys.
To date, most foundry customers have built and managed design
infrastructure on their own servers. The SAFE™-Cloud program reduces
this burden and supports easier, faster and more efficient design
efforts by providing an excellent turnkey design environment with
extensive process information (PDK, design methodologies), EDA tools,
design assets (IP, library) and design services.
Customers can be assured of as much server and storage space as they
need, as well as a safe environment optimized for chip design, due to
Samsung Electronics’ verification of SAFE™-Cloud’s security,
applicability and expandability.
Utilizing the SAFE™-Cloud platform, Samsung was able to accelerate the
development of its 7nm and 5nm cell libraries in collaboration with
Synopsys. In addition, Samsung, Gaonchips – a fabless design company in
Korea – and Cadence have successfully completed design verification
based on the platform.
“Making up-front investments in high-performance computing (HPC) servers
and systems can be a challenge for a company like us,” said Kyu Dong
Jung, CEO of Gaonchips. “SAFE™-Cloud offers us a very flexible design
environment without requiring investment in additional infrastructure,
as well as reduced design TAT. I expect this program to provide more
tangible business and technical benefits to us and the entire fabless
industry.”
Process technology roadmap and advanced packaging updates
Samsung’s roadmap includes four FinFET-based processes from 7nm down to
4nm that leverage extreme ultraviolet (EUV) technology as well as 3nm
GAA, or MBCFET™.
In the second half of this year, Samsung is scheduled to start the mass
production of 6nm process devices and complete the development of 4nm
process.
The product design of Samsung’s 5nm FinFET process, which was developed
in April, is expected to be completed in the second half of this year
and go under mass production in the first half of 2020.
Extensions of the company’s FD-SOI (FDS) process and eMRAM together with
an expanded set of state-of-the-art package solutions were also unveiled
at this year’s Foundry Forum. Development of the successor to the 28FDS
process, 18FDS, and eMRAM with 1Gb capacity will be finished this year.
About Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
Samsung inspires the world and shapes the future with transformative
ideas and technologies. The company is redefining the worlds of TVs,
smartphones, wearable devices, tablets, digital appliances, network
systems, and memory, system LSI, foundry and LED solutions. For the
latest news, please visit the Samsung Newsroom at http://news.samsung.com.
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