SAN JOSE, Calif. , Oct. 05, 2018 –
TSMC taped out its first chip in a process making limited use of extreme ultraviolet lithography and will start risk production in April on a 5-nm node with full EUV. Separately, the foundry forged partnerships with four partners to support online services for back-end chip design.
The foundry's update showed that area and power gains continue in its leading-edge nodes, but chip speeds are no longer advancing at their historic rate. To compensate, TSMC gave an update on a half-dozen packaging techniques that it is developing to speed connections between chips.
Backers say that cloud-based services will shorten the time and extend the reach of chip design tools, helping expand a semiconductor industry facing the slowdown of Moore's Law. However, they note that cloud design is still in an early phase that typically requires setting up and optimizing custom sites.