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Topic: After 28nm? (Read 2056 times)

sr. member
Activity: 434
Merit: 250
June 28, 2014, 08:01:09 AM
#24
Title says all. What's after 28nm? Is it worth going to 14nm ( for ASIC's that is )?
It seems that it will be worth going to 14 maybe even to 10 but for less it could get incredibly hard.
full member
Activity: 136
Merit: 100
June 28, 2014, 07:52:11 AM
#23
20 nm is an option but it's a half node so it's only about 2x as good as 28 nm.

2x? think you need to look up your scaling numbers for node shrinks (especially theoretical scaling vs actual on the latest generations), also 28nm is a half node so the jump is similar as for example 32 > 22nm.

"Half node step" :-)

20nm should give around 2x- it will depend on the exact process of course but there's an increase in density and an uplift in frequency (or reduction in power consumption). We're talking about a class if design where trivial parallelism leads to almost linear speedups.
hero member
Activity: 575
Merit: 500
June 28, 2014, 01:01:48 AM
#22
20 nm is an option but it's a half node so it's only about 2x as good as 28 nm.

2x? think you need to look up your scaling numbers for node shrinks (especially theoretical scaling vs actual on the latest generations), also 28nm is a half node so the jump is similar as for example 32 > 22nm.
sr. member
Activity: 392
Merit: 250
June 27, 2014, 10:31:23 AM
#21
thanks for the source steve
full member
Activity: 139
Merit: 100
June 27, 2014, 09:40:44 AM
#20
Like I said it will be a while.   Switching from electricity to photons essentially.
The main benefits of photonics are not so much in feature size - if anything, right now they tend to be bigger - but in the fact that a photon can travel through a vacuum unimpeded - so if you need to get a signal from one side of a chip to the other, doing so with a photon means you use less energy than you do with nudging an electron in one end and having another get bumped out the other end with losses (and thus heat) along the way - and a high frequency signal doesn't meaningfully affect neighboring elements and pathways.

Sub-12 is really, really hard (technical term).  I think it more likely that performance increases will come from more novel techniques (whether or not it ends up standing the test of fabrication, Introducing the Vacuum Transistor: A Device Made of Nothing [ieee.org] is a recent example), rather than trying to shrink things down further.  As mikerbiker6 points out again, some things are just physically 'impossible'.

Yes! That was what I was thinking of! The Vacuum Transistor! If only theirs a foundry that already supports it....and I had sufficient funds  Tongue
hero member
Activity: 686
Merit: 500
FUN > ROI
June 27, 2014, 06:47:49 AM
#19
Like I said it will be a while.   Switching from electricity to photons essentially.
The main benefits of photonics are not so much in feature size - if anything, right now they tend to be bigger - but in the fact that a photon can travel through a vacuum unimpeded - so if you need to get a signal from one side of a chip to the other, doing so with a photon means you use less energy than you do with nudging an electron in one end and having another get bumped out the other end with losses (and thus heat) along the way - and a high frequency signal doesn't meaningfully affect neighboring elements and pathways.

Sub-12 is really, really hard (technical term).  I think it more likely that performance increases will come from more novel techniques (whether or not it ends up standing the test of fabrication, Introducing the Vacuum Transistor: A Device Made of Nothing [ieee.org] is a recent example), rather than trying to shrink things down further.  As mikerbiker6 points out again, some things are just physically 'impossible'.
sr. member
Activity: 392
Merit: 250
June 27, 2014, 06:32:13 AM
#18
I don't know about 0.1nm, that is smaller than one silicon atom.(about 0.2nm). source: wikipedia.
1nm is already increadibly hard, even if one manages to get that high of a fidelity, quantum tunneling effects play a big role.
You will then lose the properties of a 'normal' transistor.
hero member
Activity: 519
Merit: 500
June 27, 2014, 05:19:17 AM
#17
It never stops, 28nm -> 20nm -> 14nm -> 10nm -> 1nm -> 0.1nm
Physics preclude the latter numbers Smiley  sub-12nm is already going to be a challenge.

Like I said it will be a while.   Switching from electricity to photons essentially.
hero member
Activity: 686
Merit: 500
FUN > ROI
June 27, 2014, 05:17:02 AM
#16
It never stops, 28nm -> 20nm -> 14nm -> 10nm -> 1nm -> 0.1nm
Physics preclude the latter numbers Smiley  sub-12nm is already going to be a challenge.
sr. member
Activity: 420
Merit: 250
June 27, 2014, 03:57:32 AM
#15
It never stops, 28nm -> 20nm -> 14nm -> 10nm -> 1nm -> 0.1nm
sr. member
Activity: 392
Merit: 250
June 27, 2014, 03:54:13 AM
#14
ASML is currently working on EUV lithography machines, (it are actually soft X-rays).
But I don't know what resolution is feasible with that.

mine with x-rays machines?
Is that a joke?
That is to make the chips with.
hero member
Activity: 784
Merit: 1004
Glow Stick Dance!
June 26, 2014, 10:39:46 PM
#13
Yup...KnC confirmed to be releasing 20nm product in their next-gen processors.

This would be their current generation, the Neptune, which is already shipping.
legendary
Activity: 1610
Merit: 1000
Well hello there!
June 26, 2014, 09:57:19 PM
#12
Yup...KnC confirmed to be releasing 20nm product in their next-gen processors.
hero member
Activity: 784
Merit: 500
June 26, 2014, 08:16:07 PM
#11
ASML is currently working on EUV lithography machines, (it are actually soft X-rays).
But I don't know what resolution is feasible with that.

mine with x-rays machines?
sr. member
Activity: 392
Merit: 250
June 26, 2014, 06:20:46 PM
#10
ASML is currently working on EUV lithography machines, (it are actually soft X-rays).
But I don't know what resolution is feasible with that.
newbie
Activity: 28
Merit: 0
June 26, 2014, 05:45:15 PM
#9
We will see 14nm next year surely even in asics.
hero member
Activity: 519
Merit: 500
June 26, 2014, 03:47:12 PM
#8
Both AMD and nVidia have been having trouble with this next step.  I remember the 6xxx series cards were supposed to be the same process as the 7xxx.  nVidia is taking forever to release new Maxwell gear.

It will take some time to jump down
newbie
Activity: 28
Merit: 0
June 26, 2014, 01:19:16 PM
#7
GPU manufacturers are going towards 14nm after 20nm.I think we will see the same with asics.
full member
Activity: 136
Merit: 100
June 26, 2014, 09:49:05 AM
#6
knc already has 20nm.
I don't know if it is going to work out with knc since they delayed their customers very long.

So nobody's gone to 15 or 14 nm yet?

None of the commercially usable fabs are offering 14nm yet. 16 nm may be possible over the next year or so but there's a huge amount of capacity going to be taken by very large semi companies that want to build CPUs, etc.

20 nm is an option but it's a half node so it's only about 2x as good as 28 nm.
full member
Activity: 139
Merit: 100
June 26, 2014, 09:07:17 AM
#5
knc already has 20nm.
I don't know if it is going to work out with knc since they delayed their customers very long.

So nobody's gone to 15 or 14 nm yet?
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