Thread by @QaM_Section31

In Nov 2021, Qualcomm announced Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. In 2022, Samsung announced Galaxy S22 series with SD8 Gen 1 equipped, and the chip was produced on Samsung 4LPX (=5LPP). But it was severely criticized due to high heat emitted and low performance retentivity for a long time.

It was later revealed that the yield of 4LPX(=5LPP) and 4LPE was low. In 1Q 2022, it was estimated that the yield of 4LPE was around 35%, half of the value of TSMC's counterparts.

The 3nm GAAFET roadmap (its Samsung variant is MBCFET) has been already revealed in Samsung Foundry Forum 2021; However Samsung somehow decided to ramp up the speed for the 3nm GAAFET process to make themselves competitive comparing to TSMC.

In June 2022, Samsung begun a risk production in 3GAE (1st gen of 3nm MBCFET) process. On July 25, 2022, Samsung celebrated the first shipment of 3nm MBCFET chips to a Chinese cryptocurrency mining firm PanSemi.

news.samsung.com/kr/삼성전자-3나노-파운드리-양산-출하식-개최

But still Samsung had suffered from low yields on 3GAE process. Note that Samsung hasn't used pellicles on their EUV FinFET nodes till 2022, since none of the pellicles available satisfied required condition Samsung said at that time (transmissivity of 90% or higher).

Pellicles manufactured by ASML has 83% transmissivity, while TSMC's own pellicles based on polysilicon, has 85% transmissivity. Recently Samsung has developed pellicles with 88% transmissivity, so we could see when Samsung will use it on their EUV nodes later.

Back to the EUV nodes, anyway we can speculate that Samsung's current 3GAE node isn't intended for universal chips like AP(application processor) for smartphones. Rather, it is likely to be for ASIC (application specific integrated circuits): for example, cryptomining chip.

So, to solve the yield issues, Samsung has begun collaboration with Silicon Frontline Technology Inc. (USA) to resolve the crises, in Nov 2022; since the imminent problems about yields had to be solved ASAP to take back their competition power.

biz.chosun.com/it-science/ict…

Also, Samsung Electronics carried out personnel renewal of 20 people, especially for DS department.

ajunews.com/view/202206021…

In Samsung Foundry Forum 2022, Samsung announced new roadmap; and then 1.4 nm process was set to the year 2027. For 2nm, their goal is SF2 for 2025 and SF2P for 2026. Here, 4HPC is for high-performance computing, 4LPA is for the automotive (car) chips.

In the forum, Jeong Ki-tae, vice president of Samsung Electronics' foundry division technology development office, said: "The initial yield of 4nm did not meet market expectations. It has improved quickly and has now been raised to a level where there is no problem."

On March 12, 2023, Samsung Electronics announced business report. Samsung will begin mass production of the 4nm process (2nd/3rd) during the first half of this year. We can speculate that they're 4LPP/4LPP+ , respectively.

fnnews.com/news/202303121…

The currently speculated yield on Samsung's 4nm nodes is around 60% level. It is still lower than TSMC 4nm nodes' known value (approx. 70~80%) though, it's an analysis that the yield is being improved rapidly and the mass production of the follow-up version is also speeding up.

Currently, according to recent rumours,
- Google Tensor G3 may be fabricated on 4LPP (SF4),
- and Exynos 2400 may be manufactured on 4LPP+ (SF4P).

We may could see whether Samsung truly succeeds to improve their foundry nodes as real products are revealed in the future.

This marks end of the threads about Samsung Foundry's nodes of 4nm FinFET and 3nm MBCFET.

@faridofanani96

Typo: begun -> began or has begun. Sorry for grammar. :P