Samsung is currently planning to mass-produce its latest 3nm process nodes, and the South Korean tech giant has already reportedly acquired contracts from some of the big names like Qualcomm and NVIDIA.
However, according to recent reports, Samsung is reportedly continuing to experience difficulty in advanced technology while developing the 3nm gate-all-around (GAA) processes.
Gate-all-around, or GAA transistors, are a modified transistor structure where the gate contacts the channel from all sides and enables continued scaling. Such transistors are referred to as gate-all-around, or GAA, transistors, and different variants have been proposed.
But, the South Korean tech giants 3nm GAA process is considered “less competitive” when compared against the current biggest silicon manufacturer in the world, the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s 3nm FinFET technology when it comes to discussing costs and performance.
[FinFET is a] fin field-effect transistor is a multigate device, a MOSFET built on a substrate where the gate is placed on two, three, or four sides of the channel or wrapped around the channel, forming a double or even multi-gate structure.
Samsung had earlier announced that it plans to start the production of the 3nm process nodes by 2022 however, this might get delayed if the company continues to find difficulties. On the other hand, its rival, TSMC is on schedule to start mass production of 3nm FinFET process technology as soon as the third quarter of 2022. and it already has a list of buyers that include big names like Apple and AMD and Intel.
“N3 will be another performance and cost for our customers.”
according to earlier reports, Intel and Apple have already started creating orders with TSMC for their 3nm FinFET technology, and Samsung Electronics revealed the $205.5 billion capital expenditure program which it will be undertaking for the next three years.
Reports suggest that the South Korean tech giant is planning to roll out their first-gen 3nm GAA Early and second-gen 32 GAA Plus (GAE and GAP, respectively), however, their current GAE production will be unable to start until as soon as 2023 due to various issues experienced during development.
