450mm wafers, TSMC aims to pilot lines for 2017

The Taiwanese foundry wants to complete by the end of 2015 the installation of all equipment and organize pilot lines for the production of wafers with a diameter of 450mm within two years

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company wanted to emphasize again the plans for the construction of the first plant will be equipped with pilot production lines for wafers to 450mm, which will be used from 2016 to 2017 for the production of transistors with FinFET technology and production processes to 10nm and 7nm. The foundry Taiwan also plans to adopt the EUV lithography (Extreme UltraViolet) for the construction of the chip to 10 nanometers, with the installation of equipment scheduled for the end of 2017.

JK Wang, Vice President of Operations for the factories to be 300mm for TSMC noted that the suppliers of the machines had previously shown some degree of hesitation to invest resources for the realization of instrumentation capable of working silicon wafers to 450mm in diameter. Wang observes, however, that the sector has now become aware of the transition to the 450mm and that the majority of manufacturers of machinery has allocated about 15% of the resources for research and development for the creation of tools for the production to 450mm.

TSMC's aim is to finish the installation of the new instruments by the end of the fourth quarter of 2015 and plans to build the first pilot lines between 2016 and 2017. The installation of instrumentation for EUV lithography scanner and the new 193mm wavelength for immersion lithography will instead be completed by the end of 2017.

Wang also revealed that TSMC will expand capacity at 28 nanometers to a monthly level of 100 thousand 300mm wafers by the end of 2013. The foundry is also preparing to start production of chips with 20-nanometer manufacturing process for 2014.