7 nanometer

Semiconductor manufacturing processes
10 µm – 1971 6 µm – 1974 3 µm – 1977 1.5 µm – 1982 1 µm – 1985 800 nm – 1989 600 nm – 1994 350 nm – 1995 250 nm – 1997 180 nm – 1999 130 nm – 2001 90 nm – 2004 65 nm – 2006 45 nm – 2008 32 nm – 2010 22 nm – 2012 14 nm – 2014 10 nm – 2017 7 nm  – ~2018 5 nm – ~2020
Half-nodes

In semiconductor manufacturing, the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors defines the 7 nanometer (7 nm) node as the technology node following the 10 nm node.

Single transistor 7 nm scale devices were first produced in the early 2000s – as of 2016 commercial production of 7 nm chips is at a development stage.

History

Technology demos

In 2002, IBM produced a 6 nm transistor.^[1]

In 2003, NEC produced a 5 nm transistor.^[2]

In 2012, IBM produced a sub-10 nm carbon nanotube transistor that outperformed silicon on speed and power.^[3] "The superior low-voltage performance of the sub-10 nm CNT transistor proves the viability of nanotubes for consideration in future aggressively scaled transistor technologies," according to the abstract of the paper in Nano Letters.^[4]

In July 2015, IBM announced that they had built the first functional transistors with 7 nm technology, using a silicon-germanium process.^[5][6]

Expected commercialisation and technologies

Although Intel has not yet divulged any certain plans to manufacturers or retailers, it has already stated that it would no longer use silicon at this node.^[7] A possible replacement material for silicon would be indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs).^[8]

In April 2016, TSMC announced that 7 nm trial production would begin in the first half of 2017.^[9]

In September 2016, GlobalFoundries announced trial production in the second half of 2017 and risk production in early 2018, with test chips already running.^[10]

References

External links

• Summary technology trend targets lists the 2013 predictions of the 7nm node characteristics.