Foreign media: Samsung's 3nm yield is only 20%
Latest update time：2022-04-20 15:30
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According to foreign media Phonearena, Samsung Foundry is the world's second largest independent foundry after the giant TSMC. In other words, in addition to manufacturing Exynos chips designed by itself, Samsung also manufactures chips based on designs submitted by third-party companies such as Qualcomm, a foundry customer.
The Snapdragon 865 application processor (AP) is built by TSMC using its 7nm process node. For the 5nm Snapdragon 888 chipset, Qualcomm went back to Samsung and continues to rely on the Korean foundry to produce the 4nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. This is the AP that currently powers high-end Android phones made by Samsung, Xiaomi, and Motorola.
Samsung Foundry continues to struggle with yield
But in February, it was reported that Samsung Foundry had a yield rate of only 35% on its 4nm process node. This means that only 35% of the chip dies cut from the wafer can pass quality control. In contrast, TSMC achieved a yield rate of 70% when producing the 4nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus. In other words, all things being equal, TSMC manufactured twice as many chips as Samsung Foundry in the same period.
This led to TSMC finally receiving orders from Qualcomm to build its remaining Snapdragon 8 Gen1 chipsets as well as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus SoCs. We also assume that TSMC will get the license to manufacture the 3nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, even if Qualcomm needs to pay TSMC a premium to have the exclusive manufacturer of this chipset to manufacture enough chips in a short period of time.
Although Samsung recently said that its yields have been improving, a report from the Business Post claims that Samsung's 3nm process node yields are still well below the company's goals. While Samsung Foundry's gate-all-around (GAA) transistor architecture debuted at its 3nm node, giving it a head start over TSMC (which will be rolling out GAA architecture at its 2nm node), Samsung Foundry's yields in its early 3nm production have been in the 10% to 20% range.
Not only is this an extremely low yield that Samsung needs to improve, but it's worse than the aforementioned 35% yield Sammy experienced with the 4nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1.
Wccftech said that according to sources, the first "performance version" of the 3nm GAA chipset that Samsung will ship to customers starting next year may actually be a new in-house Exynos chip. Samsung has reportedly been developing a new series of Exynos chips for its smartphones, but it is unclear at this stage whether they will be manufactured using the 3nm GAA process node.
TSMC and Samsung may soon have new challengers for process leadership
TSMC and Samsung will soon have new challengers, as Intel has said it aims to take over the industry's process leadership by the end of 2024. It has also taken the lead in acquiring more advanced extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines.
The second generation of EUV machines is called High NA or High Numerical Aperture. Current EUV machines have an NA of 0.33, but the new machines will have an NA of 0.55. The higher the NA, the higher the resolution of the circuit patterns etched on the wafer. This will help chip designers and foundries create new chipsets with even more transistors than the billions used on current integrated circuits.
It will also prevent foundries from running wafers through EUV machines again to add additional features to chips. ASML said the higher-resolution patterns produced by second-generation EUV machines will provide chip features 1.7 times smaller and increase chip density 2.9 times.
By getting this machine first, Intel will be able to take a big step toward its goal of reclaiming process leadership from TSMC and Samsung.
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