28 nm process

The "28 nm" lithography process is a half-node semiconductor manufacturing process based on a die shrink of the "32 nm" lithography process. ^[1] It appeared in production in 2010. ^[2]

Since at least 1997, "process nodes" have been named purely on a marketing basis, and have no direct relation to the dimensions on the integrated circuit; ^[3] neither gate length, metal pitch or gate pitch on a "28nm" device is twenty-eight nanometers. ^{[4] [5] [6] [7]}

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has offered "28 nm" production using high-K metal gate process technology. ^[8]

GlobalFoundries offers a "28nm" foundry process called the "28SLPe" ("28nm Super Low Power") foundry process, which uses high-K metal gate technology. ^[9]

According to a 2016 presentation by Sophie Wilson, 28nm has the lowest cost per logic gate. Cost per gate had decreased as processes shrunk until reaching 28nm, and has slowly risen since then. ^[10]

Design

"28nm" requires twice the number of design rules for ensuring reliability in manufacturing as "80nm". ^[11]

Shipped devices

AMD's Radeon HD 7970 uses a graphics processing unit manufactured using a "28nm" process. ^[12]

Some models of the PS3 use a RSX 'Reality Synthesizer' chip manufactured using a "28nm" process. ^[13]

FPGAs produced with "28 nm" process technology include models of the Xilinx Artix 7 FPGAs and Altera Cyclone V FPGAs. ^[14]

References

1. Torres, J. Andres; Otto, Oberdan; Pikus, Fedor G. (2009-10-01). Zurbrick, Larry S.; Montgomery, M. Warren (eds.). Challenges for the 28nm half node: Is the optical shrink dead?. Society of Photographic Instrumentation Engineers. pp. 74882A. doi:10.1117/12.831047.
2. "A Review of TSMC 28 nm Process Technology | TechInsights". www.techinsights.com. Retrieved 2024-03-01.
3. "No More Nanometers – EEJournal". July 23, 2020.
4. Shukla, Priyank. "A Brief History of Process Node Evolution". design-reuse.com. Retrieved 2019-07-09.
5. Hruska, Joel (23 June 2014). "14nm, 7nm, 5nm: How low can CMOS go? It depends if you ask the engineers or the economists..." ExtremeTech .
6. "Exclusive: Is Intel Really Starting To Lose Its Process Lead? 7nm Node Slated For Release in 2022". wccftech.com. 2016-09-10.
7. "Life at 10nm. (Or is it 7nm?) And 3nm - Views on Advanced Silicon Platforms". eejournal.com. 2018-03-12.
8. Clarke, Peter (2009-08-24). "TSMC splits 28-nm high-k metal gate process into two versions". EE Times.
9. "GlobalFoundries 130, 55, 45, 40, 28, 22, 12nm Prototyping and Volume Production" (PDF).
10. Wilson, Sophie. "The Future of Microprocessors". Code Mesh 2016. Code Mesh.
11. Balasinski, Artur (2014). Design for manufacturability: from 1D to 4D for 90-22nm technology nodes. New York, New York: Springer. p. 124. ISBN   978-1-4614-1761-3.
12. Smith, Ryan. "AMD Radeon HD 7970 Review: 28nm And Graphics Core Next, Together As One". www.anandtech.com. Retrieved 2024-03-01.
13. "NVIDIA RSX-28nm".
14. Homulle, Harald; Charbon, Edoardo (2017-12-13). "Performance characterization of Altera and Xilinx 28 nm FPGAs at cryogenic temperatures". 2017 International Conference on Field Programmable Technology (ICFPT). IEEE. pp. 25–31. doi:10.1109/FPT.2017.8280117. ISBN   978-1-5386-2656-6.