Globalfoundries says EUV in production in 2019
Patton said he would not put extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography in the critical path at the first installation but it would eventually come in the 7nm node where it can show reduced cost.
Two EUV scanners are coming to Globalfoundries wafer fab campus in Malta, New York, in 2017 and more are coming in 2018, Patton said. “Contacts and vias are to bring in EUV lithography with a good return on investment,” he said. “ASML has a backlog of 12 EUV scanners for 2017 and 6 for 2018. Two of the 12 are ours,” Patton said.
While progress has been made on EUV source illumination there is still work to be done on resist and line-edge roughness at throughput rates and on masks. There are still concerns over such things as mask defectivity and developing a protective pellicle that is 205W-compatible and not a big attenuator of source energy.
“That’s why the lower risk path is contact and vias. In other areas defects can be a problem,” said Patton. He pointed out that Globalfoundries has mask making operations that could be put to EUV masks at both Burlington, Vermont and Dresden, Germany. Patton said he expected the EUV scanners would be in commercial use in 2019. “Even taking delivery of scanners in 2017 there is a lot of work to do when you make any change. But EUV will start at 7nm in what will be a long-lived node,” said Patton.
Next: Two-lane roadmap
But meanwhile Globalfoundries has manufacturing processes at 14nm (FinFET) and 22nm (FDSOI) to produce. Patton stressed that with two lanes in its manufacfuring roadmap Globalfoundries has right technology for the right application. FinFET is suited to the high performance peak demands of servers and networking applications while FDSOI is more suitable for power-limited mobile, IoT and deeply-embedded applications.
The 14nm FinFET process is fully qualified and ramping with more 20 products, including some very large 600 square millimeter chips. The 22FDX technology is “coming up quickly” and being supported by the building of a 300mm wafer fab – Fab 11 – in Chengdu, China.
This will be a state-of-the-art modern 300mm wafer fab with a cost of around $10 billion but Globalfoundries has not made clear how the fab is being paid for or what percentage it holds in the joint venture with Chengdu Municipality (see Globalfoundries to build FDSOI fab in China). Patton said Globalfoundries has control of the fab.
The site is already under construction and production will start with 180nm and 130nm CMOS technologies in 2H18 with 22FDX intended to begin production in 2H19, Patton said.
Dresden, Germany, remains the center for FDSOI development with work going on 12FDX and extensions to the 22FDX process. Tape outs for 12FDX are expected in 2H18. Dresden is also working on RF plus digital FDSOI, ultra-low leakage and embedded MRAM non-volatile memory, due for introduction in 2017 (see Globalfoundries offers embedded MRAM on 22nm FDSOI).
Globalfoundries is also working on automotive qualification for both its Dresden and Malta sites.
Related links and articles:
News articles:
Globalfoundries to build FDSOI fab in China
Globalfoundries offers embedded MRAM on 22nm FDSOI
Chemistry startup claims EUV resist breakthrough
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