TSMC Plans 450mm Wafer Production in 2018

Taipei, Sept. 5, 2012 (CENS)--J.K. Wang, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s vice president for operations/300mm fabs, yesterday said the company, currently the world’s No.1 pure silicon foundry, will begin volume production of chips on 450mm silicon wafers in 2018, offering FinFET transistor technology at 10nm node.

He noted that TSMC has completed its planning for deploying 450mm wafer production.

Wang made the statement at a pre-show press conference of the SEMICON Taiwan trade fair.

The company’s vice president for research and development, Burn Lin, pointed out that TSMC will begin volume production of FinFET transistors at 20nm process and is on the track to deploy 16nm FinFET process.

In addition to extreme ultraviolet lithography, Lin said that TSMC is also considering multi e-beam lithography technology for its 10nm FinFET process.

He pointed out that TSMC will use the legacy immersion lithography technology on its 10nm and 16nm transistors as EUV is still immature. But transistors smaller than 10nm will use next-generation lithography technology.

Intel Corp., TSMC, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., International Business Machines Corp. (IBM), and GlobalFoundry Inc. have formed an alliance called G450C to push for 450mm technology. Wang said 2012 is the beginning year for 450mm technology push and the group will set standards for 450mm wafer production by integrating resources of world leading chipmakers and with most economic ways.

Wang said migrating to 450mm wafer technology will take time and TSMC would complete specification setting for 450mm tools in 2014 or 2015 and set up pilot lines in 2016 or 2017. If everything goes as smoothly as expected, the company will begin volume production with 450mm wafer fabs in 2018.