Late last month, Samsung Foundry announced it has begun initial production of its next-generation 3nm process node. The forthcoming node will mark the first implementation of Samsung’s Gate-All-Around (GAA) transistor technology, which the South Korean foundry says it has been developing since the early 2000s.
Samsung labels its GAA transistors with the trademark Multi-Bridge-Channel FET, or MBCFET. These distinguish themselves from other GAA transistors with their wide “nanosheet” channels.
According to Samsung, its MBCFET-based node will surpass the limitations of the company’s current FinFET-based node with a lower supply voltage to improve power efficiency and a higher drive current capability to enhance performance. Samsung says the first generation of the 3nm node will reduce power consumption by 45 percent, improve performance by 23 percent, and reduce area by 16 percent compared to the FinFET-based 5nm node.
The second-generation of the 3nm node will take these gains even further, reducing power consumption by 50 percent, improving performance by 30 percent, and reducing area by 35 percent compared to 5nm, according to Samsung.
By adjusting the width of the MBCFET nanosheets, Samsung says it can adjust the performance and power usage of the transistors to address various customer needs. The first application of the new 3nm node will be for high performance, low power computing. Samsung also has plans to expand to mobile processors.
“Samsung has grown rapidly as we continue to demonstrate leadership in applying next-generation technologies to manufacturing, such as the foundry industry’s first High-K Metal Gate, FinFET, as well as EUV. We seek to continue this leadership with the world’s first 3nm process with the MBCFET,” said Siyoung Choi, President and Head of Foundry Business at Samsung Electronics, in a company press release.
Several electronic design automation (EDA) software providers have already integrated support for Samsung’s 3nm node, including Ansys, Cadence, Siemens, and Synopsys, as part of the Samsung Advanced Foundry Ecosystem (SAFE) partner program.