In semiconductor manufacturing, the 3 nm process is the next die shrink after the 5 nanometer MOSFET (metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor) technology node. South Korean chipmaker Samsung started shipping its 3 nm gate all around (GAA) process, named 3GAA, in mid-2022. On December 29, 2022, Taiwanese chip manufacturer TSMC announced that volume production using its 3 nm semiconductor node termed N3 is under way with good yields. An enhanced 3 nm chip process called N3E may start production in 2023. American manufacturer Intel plans to start 3 nm production in 2023.
Samsung's 3 nm process is based on GAAFET (gate-all-around field-effect transistor) technology, a type of multi-gate MOSFET technology, while TSMC's 3 nm process still uses FinFET (fin field-effect transistor) technology, despite TSMC developing GAAFET transistors. Specifically, Samsung plans to use its own variant of GAAFET called MBCFET (multi-bridge channel field-effect transistor). Intel's process dubbed "Intel 3" without the "nm" suffix will use a refined, enhanced and optimized version of FinFET technology compared to its previous process nodes in terms of performance gained per watt, use of EUV lithography, and power and area improvement.
The term "3 nanometer" has no relation to any actual physical feature (such as gate length, metal pitch or gate pitch) of the transistors. According to the projections contained in the 2021 update of the International Roadmap for Devices and Systems published by IEEE Standards Association Industry Connection, a 3 nm node is expected to have a contacted gate pitch of 48 nanometers and a tightest metal pitch of 24 nanometers.
However, in real world commercial practice, "3 nm" is used primarily as a marketing term by individual microchip manufacturers to refer to a new, improved generation of silicon semiconductor chips in terms of increased transistor density (i.e. a higher degree of miniaturization), increased speed and reduced power consumption. There is no industry-wide agreement among different manufacturers about what numbers would define a 3 nm node. Typically the chip manufacturer refers to its own previous process node (in this case the 5 nm process node) for comparison. For example, TSMC has stated that its 3 nm FinFET chips will reduce power consumption by 25–30% at the same speed, increase speed by 10–15% at the same amount of power and increase transistor density by about 33% compared to its previous 5 nm FinFET chips. On the other hand, Samsung has stated that its 3 nm process will reduce power consumption by 45%, improve performance by 23%, and decrease surface area by 16% compared to its previous 5 nm process. EUV lithography faces new challenges at 3 nm which lead to the required use of multipatterning.
History
Research and technology demos
In 1985, a Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) research team fabricated a MOSFET (NMOS) device with a channel length of 150 nm and gate oxide thickness of 2.5 nm. In 1998, an Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) research team fabricated a MOSFET (NMOS) device with a channel length of 50 nm and oxide thickness of 1.3 nm.
In 2003, a research team at NEC fabricated the first MOSFETs with a channel length of 3 nm, using the PMOS and NMOS processes. In 2006, a team from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and the National Nano Fab Center, developed a 3 nm width multi-gate MOSFET, the world's smallest nanoelectronic device, based on gate-all-around (GAAFET) technology.
Commercialization history
In late 2016, TSMC announced plans to construct a 5 nm–3 nm node semiconductor fabrication plant with a co-commitment investment of around US$15.7 billion.
In 2017, TSMC announced it was to begin construction of the 3 nm semiconductor fabrication plant at the Tainan Science Park in Taiwan. TSMC plans to start volume production of the 3 nm process node in 2023.
In early 2018, IMEC (Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre) and Cadence stated they had taped out 3 nm test chips, using extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) and 193 nm immersion lithography.
In early 2019, Samsung presented plans to manufacture 3 nm GAAFET (gate-all-around field-effect transistors) at the 3 nm node in 2021, using its own MBCFET transistor structure that uses nanosheets; delivering a 35% performance increase, 50% power reduction and a 45% reduction in area when compared with 7 nm. Samsung's semiconductor roadmap also included products at 8, 7, 6, 5, and 4 nm 'nodes'.
In December 2019, Intel announced plans for 3 nm production in 2025.