Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) is standing firm: the company’s roadmap for advanced chipmaking, including the 1.4-nanometer (A14) process, doesn’t necessitate the use of high-NA (High-Numerical Aperture) EUV lithography systems – at least, not yet.
Speaking recently at a European technology symposium in Amsterdam, TSMC reiterated its long-held position on the next generation of these cutting-edge lithography machines. “Our next-generation technology nodes, including A16 (1.6-nanometer) and A14, do not require these highest-end lithography systems,” the company confirmed.
In short, don’t expect to see high-NA EUV equipment deployed by TSMC at these advanced nodes.
“People always seem interested when TSMC will use High-NA, and I think our answer is easy,” said Kevin Zhang, Senior Vice President of Business Development and Global Sales and co-COO at TSMC, during the event.
“We’ll adopt High-NA the moment we find the meaningful, measurable benefits. For A14, the performance uplift I mentioned earlier is substantial without the use of High-NA. Thus, our technology team is continually finding ways of extending the lifetime of the current EUV while still gaining the scaling advantages.”
TSMC’s A14 process is based on its second-generation nanosheet gate-all-around transistor (GAA) architecture, along with a novel standard cell architecture. According to TSMC, A14 promises a performance uplift of up to 15% at the same power and complexity levels, or a power reduction of 25% to 30% at the same frequency.
“It’s a great innovation from our technology team,” Zhang stated. “As long as they continue to find ways, obviously we don’t have to use High-NA EUV. Eventually, we will use it sometime. It’s just we need to find the right intercept point that provides the most benefit, the most return on investment.”
This news underscores a significant shift in the landscape of semiconductor manufacturing. While ASML’s newest High-NA EUV machines are the most advanced lithography systems on the market, with a price tag of around $400 million per unit, TSMC’s decision showcases its ability to innovate and optimize existing EUV technology, potentially delaying or mitigating the need for such expensive equipment.
To date, ASML has shipped only a handful of these high-end machines. These machines, weighing in at 180 tons and the size of a double-decker bus, are among the most expensive semiconductor manufacturing tools in the world.
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