Samsung says 7nm EUV will reduce costs

Samsung gave a presentation about its 7nm process at the VLSI Symposia in Honolulu. First up, the company revealed its 7nm process offer a 40 percent shrink versus its current 10nm process. Next, the company stated that the use of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography will result in 70 percent better pattern validity versus the current 193nm ArF immersion scanner with multi-patterning. Additionally, Samsung also confirmed EUV should cut overall cycle time and reduce costs:

But perhaps most important, EUV should reduce overall cycle time and cut costs. By using EUV at 7nm, Samsung can fabricate contacts and some metal layers with a single step rather than using 193nm ArFi with multiple exposures. Samsung has previously said this will reduce mask steps by at least 25 percent and in this week's presentation, it said its 7nm technology with EUV will revive the "cost-effectiveness of cutting-edge technolgy." But this cost advantage may hinge on a number of factors including the development of a better EUV pellicles to protect masks from contamination, the dose required to avoid random defects (the higher the dose, the longer the cycle time), and new inspection tools to find and repair tiny defects.

The South Korean electronics giant said it's currently achieving yields of over 50 percent on 256Mb SRAM test chips made on its 7nm process. That's still quite low in order to do volume production, so hopefully yields will improve rapidly. The 7nm EUV node promises 20-30 percent higher performance, and 30-50 percent lower power consumption. More at ZD Net.