How Far Can Chips Go With Their Size

On September 15, Academician of The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Fudan University Chip and System Frontier Technology Institute dean, professor Liu Ming said in second China (Shanghai Free Trade Zone Lingang new area semiconductor industry development summit forum, now only rely on size reduction for processing chip performance improvement of only about 3%. In many cases, the performance improvement of the processing chip is realized by parallel processing based on quantity architecture. Networking to identify and translate...

There is little room for a shrinking dividend

Throughout the best years of IC development, the size and density of integrated circuits continued to shrink, but the power density remained constant. Liu Ming believes that reviewing the development of integrated circuit industry, in the whole process of size miniaturization, whether it is materials, device structure, photolithography technology, packaging and EDA tools, and even the business model are constantly innovating.

She takes the material field as an example. In the 1980s, there were only 12 materials in the integrated circuit production line, in the 1990s, five new materials entered the integrated circuit production, and after the 20th century, a large number of new materials entered the production line. Today's silicon-based integrated circuits are more like a platform, and because of their openness and inclusiveness, silicon technology can continue to develop, allowing other new technologies and materials to make up for their shortcomings.

Device structures are also being updated and developed from generation to generation. EUV technology is evolving further as photolithography continues to be innovated for devices of higher density and smaller size. Liu Ming pointed out that EUV only used 5-6 percent of the 7nm process node, and EUV technology was used for 20 layers of photolithography in the 3nm process node. Without EUV technology, it would be difficult to achieve mass production.

Can a free-electron laser be used as a EUV light source? Liu Ming said in his speech that this is also a hot topic in the international arena. Other technologies such as soft science will also play an increasingly important role in lithography.

In the development of the whole IC industry, size reduction has become one of the most important driving forces, and it has indeed brought great dividends for the improvement of IC performance. In the "good old days" of integrated circuits, the power of processing chips could increase by 52% a year just by shrinking in size, spurting the pace of computer development.

But now, Liu Ming points out, this dividend space has been gradually shrinking. At present, the performance improvement of processing chips based on size reduction alone is only about 3%. In many cases, the performance of processing chips is improved by architecture parallel processing.

Advanced packaging is an optional path

How far can miniaturization go? Through a series of data, Liu Ming pointed out in his speech that at present, if the path of microencapsulation does not go down, advanced packaging is actually a choice.

"Currently, integrated chips based on advanced packaging have become the preferred high-performance chips," Liu said that at the same process node if advanced packaging technology is used to integrate integrated chips, the performance can be improved by about 15 percent.

Advanced packaging is currently the preferred technology for all high-performance processors. She said there is no way for us to get EUV lithography machines that can be used to make products in the short term, either through research or import. In the absence of advanced lithography machines to develop advanced manufacturing processes, integrated chips based on advanced packaging should be the only way to get rid of the limitation and develop independent high-end chips.

From the early microprocessor to the later mobile phone chip, to the present smart phone, there is a product that can support a generation of technology and has large market demand. But now, the era of the smart Internet of Things has begun. In this era, it is hard to find a single product that can support the development of a generation of technology. The use of advanced silicon process design will reduce the number of users, so the selection of suitable chips according to the product needs, and then the integration of integrated chip technology into the product, can meet the needs of the future diversified market.