TSMC Outlines Path to EUV Success: More Tools, More Wafers, & Best Pellicles In Industry
by Anton Shilov on May 17, 2024 2:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Semiconductors
- EUV
- ASML
- TSMC
- TSMC Symposium 2024
Although TSMC can't claim to be the first fab to use extreme UV (EUV) lithography – that title goes to Samsung – they do get to claim to be the largest. As a result, the company has developed significant experience with EUV over the years, allowing TSMC to refine how they use EUV tooling to both improve productivity/uptime, and to cut down on the costs of using the ultra-fine tools. As part of the company's European Technology Symposium this week, they went into a bit more detail on their EUV usage history, and their progress on further integrating EUV into future process nodes.
When TSMC started making chips using EUV lithography in 2019 on its N7+ process (for Huawei's HiSilicon), it held 42% of the world's installed base of EUV tools, and even as ASML ramped up shipments of EUV scanners in 2020, TSMC's share of EUV installations actually increased to 50%. And jumping ahead to 2024, where the number of EUV litho systems at TSMC has increased by 10-fold from 2019, TSMC is now 56% of the global EUV installed base, despite Samsung and Intel ramping up their own EUV production. Suffice it to say, TSMC made a decision to go in hard on EUV early on, and as a result they still have the lion's share of EUV scanners today.
Notably, TSMC's EUV wafer production has increased by an even larger factor; TSMC now pumps out 30 times as many EUV wafers as they did in 2019. Compared to the mere 10x increase in tools, TSMC's 30x jump in production underscores how TSMC has been able to increase their EUV productivity, reduce service times, and fewer tool downtimes overall. Apparently, this has all been accomplished using the company's in-house developed innovations.
| TSMC's Leadership in EUV High Volume Manufacturing Data by TSMC (Compiled by AnandTech) |
||||
| 2019 | 2023 | |||
| Cumulative Tools | 1X | 10X | ||
| Share of Global EUV Installed Base | 42% | 56% | ||
| EUV Wafer Output | 1X | 30X | ||
| Wafer per Day per EUV Tool | 1X | 2X | ||
| Reticle Particle Contamination | 1X | 0.1X | ||
TSMC says that it has managed to increase wafer-per-day-per-tool productivity of its EUV systems by two times since 2019. To do so, the company optimized the EUV exposure dose and the photoresist it uses. In addition, TSMC greatly refined its pellicles for EUV reticles, which increased their lifespan by four times (i.e., increases uptime), increased output per pellicle by 4.5 times, and lowered defectivity by massive 80 times (i.e., improves productivity and increases uptime). For obvious reasons, TSMC does not disclose how it managed to improve its pellicle technology so significantly, but perhaps over time the company's engineers are going to share this with academia.
| TSMC's EUV Pellicle Technology vs. Commercial Data by TSMC (Compiled by AnandTech) |
||||
| Commercial | TSMC (Claimed) | |||
| Output | 1X | 4.5X | ||
| Defectivity | 1X | 0.0125X | ||
| Lifespan | 1X | 4X | ||
EUV lithography systems are also notorious for their power consumption. So, in addition to improving productivity of EUV tools, the company also managed to reduce the power consumption of its EUV scanners by 24% through undisclosed 'innovative energy saving techniques.' And the company isn't done there: they are planning to improve energy efficiency per wafer per EUV tool by 1.5 times by 2030.
Considering all the refinements that TSMC has managed to achieve with Low-NA EUV lithography by now, it is not terribly surprising that the company is quite confident that it can continue to produce cutting-edge chips in the future. Whereas rival Intel has gone all-in on High-NA EUV for their future, sub-18A nodes, TSMC is looking to leverage their highly-optimized and time-tested Low-NA EUV tooling instead, avoiding the potential pitfalls of a major technology transition so soon while also reaping the cost benefits of using the well-established tooling.
Source: TSMC European Technology Symposium 2024
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Terry_Craig - Friday, May 17, 2024 - link
I don't like how some people simplify things, it makes it seem like simply buying EUV machines first did all the magic, and Samsung and Intel could do the same.whatthe123 - Friday, May 17, 2024 - link
no they couldn't because it takes forever to build these machines, so TSMC was able to control the largest amount of EUV machines by far. samsung and intel attempted to rush to catch up in orders but ASML can only make so many machines per year and its first come first serve.intel is actually attempting to do the same thing with highNA by being the first to buy them in bulk.
evanh - Friday, May 17, 2024 - link
Which is all the more reason I think something unspoken has already transpired. My speculation is the US government has required ASML to ship 100% of high-NA machines to USA for a limited time period.Dante Verizon - Saturday, May 18, 2024 - link
Both have had EUV machines for years and are still embarrassed by TSMC's superior processes.evanh - Saturday, May 18, 2024 - link
Which I guess is another reason to question why Intel would be buying every commercial unit shipped for the whole of 2024. They haven't even got the first one going yet.Dante Verizon - Saturday, May 18, 2024 - link
Desperation heightened by the expectations of the government and investors. :)evanh - Saturday, May 18, 2024 - link
Not that much money, just on expectations! And definitely not while you still don't have a working line. Rather than expectations, I think the money has been allocated despite Intel's position.Exotica - Saturday, May 18, 2024 - link
Now that Intel is buying up the high na capacity you do have to wonder if within 2-3 years if intel will have a lead over TSMC…. At sub 2nm.Blastdoor - Saturday, May 18, 2024 - link
I think that’s the hope.It will be interesting to see how this plays out. As TSMC’s largest customer, I’m sure Apple has a lot of sway over TSMC’s choices. I can’t imagine that TSMC would refrain from investing in high NA tools if Apple requested that they make that investment. So I think we can infer that Apple has made no such request. The question then becomes: why has Apple not made that request?
One possible answer is that Apple does not believe it is necessary to move to the new tools yet. But I am skeptical that is the case. Apple has shown that they see great value in being on the most advanced available node. And what we know of apples future product plans suggest they will continue to want the very best (for example, the Vision product line needs the best performance/watt available if it is to go mainstream).
So, I wonder if the answer is that Apple wants a competitor for TSMC. Intel is making these investments using taxpayer money, not Apple’s money. That has to be appealing to Apple. And yet Apple could, by virtue of size, still secure most of Intel’s foundry output and be first in line.
Perhaps we will see that intel’s secret “whale” customer with the big prepayment is Apple, and that apple will then turn around and squeeze TSMC, forcing TSMC to scramble to buy the high NA tools on their own dime, without prepayment support. Or in some other way secure more favorable terms than currently.
Threska - Saturday, May 18, 2024 - link
Maybe, but I'm sure Apple remembers why they left Intel in the first place.