By: David Kanter (dkanter.delete@this.realworldtech.com), April 22, 2015 11:48 pm
Room: Moderated Discussions
Otis (otistd.delete@this.gmail.com) on April 22, 2015 7:48 am wrote:
> David Kanter (dkanter.delete@this.realworldtech.com) on April 21, 2015 2:53 pm wrote:
> > Here comes my latest article, complete with predictions for future process technology at Intel.
> >
> > On the eve of the 50th anniversary of Moore’s Law, the future
> > of silicon CMOS is an open question. With rising
> > costs and uncertain benefits, some semiconductor companies
> > have questioned the wisdom of pursuing further scaling.
> > I predict that Intel's 10nm process technology will use Quantum
> > Well FETs (QWFETs) with a 3D fin geometry, InGaAs
> > for the NFET channel, and strained Germanium for the PFET channel,
> > enabling lower voltage and more energy efficient
> > transistors in 2016, and the rest of the industry will follow suit at the 7nm node.
> >
> > The full article is available at http://www.realworldtech.com/intel-10nm-qwfet/
> >
> > As always, post questions, comments, feedback, flames, etc. here.
> >
> > David
>
> That is interesting speculation- but I fear your predictions are way too aggressive.
Excellent : ) I'm glad to see a diversity of opinions here.
Thanks for the excellent post and counter-points.
>The infrastructure
> for running III-V on 300mm Si in HVM isn't there yet. From and EHS perspective alone, InGaAs or GaAs
> is a significant headache, not because of As toxicity as you might think, but because of As carcinogenicity-
> meaning zero exposure is the goal.
How does this compare to the steps taken to isolate any copper from FEOL?
>The first III-V on 300mm Si was run in Albany withing the past 2 years
> and reported. That takes significant effort even in a research Fab, converting an HVM fab to run it regularly
> will be difficult. For every step with exposed GaAs/InGaAs surface you need to have a tool that is certified
> to run III-V, and very few of them are. Increased maintenance cost for handing As contaminated parts,
> etc. is another problem. Frankly it's just not there. Last year UCSB reported the first III-V devices
> that are competitive with 22nm Si, but those are planar and will need some development to build into a
> scaled/scalable fin structure.
>Finally, the distinction between QWFETs and FinFETs is not so clear as
> you make it seem- Intels III-V Tri-Gates which you show, do not have a large band gap barrier isolating
> the channel surface, as in a traditiona QW, so they are really just TriGate- or TriGate is essentially
> a QW, depending on how you want to look at it- it's a bit fuzzy.
That's right - there's only a single barrier layer and it's beneath the channel, as opposed to the planar example (which also had a different mix of In vs. Ga).
> Regarding Ge, there are signicant integration issues with pure Ge, and even high Ge SiGe channels that you
> seem unaware of or at least don't mention.
>However, Ge is in the fab already (SiGe Souce/Drain) and can be
> handled easily without the additional infrastructure and re-tooling needed for III-V.
Yes, it's definitely a much easier material to work with.
> Actually the IBM alliance
> partners have low Ge SiGe channels running in HVM. In any case low Ge SiGe ( Ge) could show up at Intel for 10/7nm. Here is a reasonable set of predictions to counter yours.
Awesome - I'm glad you're willing to step up and make some predictions!
> -Intel will introduce low Ge SiGe channels for PFET only at 10nm or possibly 7nm.
Do you think they will do something to improve NFET performance and keep the beta ratio near 1?
> -Intel will introduce a Gate All Around (GAA) stacked nanowire FET structure at 7nm or possibly 5nm
I agree that Intel will likely look at GAA next to improve short channel behavior.
> -Intel will not use III-V for logic device channels prior to 5nm except possibly as a peripheral
> device integrated for mobile apps in the MOL or BEOL (not at the transistor level)- personally
> I seriously doubt III-V will come to logic at all, but certainly not before 5nm.
I think it's quite possible that some classes of devices will never get high mobility materials due to cost constraints. Ironically, I see the best fit for high mobility in servers rather than mobile. Reducing voltage is a big deal for servers if you can keep constant performance.
David
> David Kanter (dkanter.delete@this.realworldtech.com) on April 21, 2015 2:53 pm wrote:
> > Here comes my latest article, complete with predictions for future process technology at Intel.
> >
> > On the eve of the 50th anniversary of Moore’s Law, the future
> > of silicon CMOS is an open question. With rising
> > costs and uncertain benefits, some semiconductor companies
> > have questioned the wisdom of pursuing further scaling.
> > I predict that Intel's 10nm process technology will use Quantum
> > Well FETs (QWFETs) with a 3D fin geometry, InGaAs
> > for the NFET channel, and strained Germanium for the PFET channel,
> > enabling lower voltage and more energy efficient
> > transistors in 2016, and the rest of the industry will follow suit at the 7nm node.
> >
> > The full article is available at http://www.realworldtech.com/intel-10nm-qwfet/
> >
> > As always, post questions, comments, feedback, flames, etc. here.
> >
> > David
>
> That is interesting speculation- but I fear your predictions are way too aggressive.
Excellent : ) I'm glad to see a diversity of opinions here.
Thanks for the excellent post and counter-points.
>The infrastructure
> for running III-V on 300mm Si in HVM isn't there yet. From and EHS perspective alone, InGaAs or GaAs
> is a significant headache, not because of As toxicity as you might think, but because of As carcinogenicity-
> meaning zero exposure is the goal.
How does this compare to the steps taken to isolate any copper from FEOL?
>The first III-V on 300mm Si was run in Albany withing the past 2 years
> and reported. That takes significant effort even in a research Fab, converting an HVM fab to run it regularly
> will be difficult. For every step with exposed GaAs/InGaAs surface you need to have a tool that is certified
> to run III-V, and very few of them are. Increased maintenance cost for handing As contaminated parts,
> etc. is another problem. Frankly it's just not there. Last year UCSB reported the first III-V devices
> that are competitive with 22nm Si, but those are planar and will need some development to build into a
> scaled/scalable fin structure.
>Finally, the distinction between QWFETs and FinFETs is not so clear as
> you make it seem- Intels III-V Tri-Gates which you show, do not have a large band gap barrier isolating
> the channel surface, as in a traditiona QW, so they are really just TriGate- or TriGate is essentially
> a QW, depending on how you want to look at it- it's a bit fuzzy.
That's right - there's only a single barrier layer and it's beneath the channel, as opposed to the planar example (which also had a different mix of In vs. Ga).
> Regarding Ge, there are signicant integration issues with pure Ge, and even high Ge SiGe channels that you
> seem unaware of or at least don't mention.
>However, Ge is in the fab already (SiGe Souce/Drain) and can be
> handled easily without the additional infrastructure and re-tooling needed for III-V.
Yes, it's definitely a much easier material to work with.
> Actually the IBM alliance
> partners have low Ge SiGe channels running in HVM. In any case low Ge SiGe ( Ge) could show up at Intel for 10/7nm. Here is a reasonable set of predictions to counter yours.
Awesome - I'm glad you're willing to step up and make some predictions!
> -Intel will introduce low Ge SiGe channels for PFET only at 10nm or possibly 7nm.
Do you think they will do something to improve NFET performance and keep the beta ratio near 1?
> -Intel will introduce a Gate All Around (GAA) stacked nanowire FET structure at 7nm or possibly 5nm
I agree that Intel will likely look at GAA next to improve short channel behavior.
> -Intel will not use III-V for logic device channels prior to 5nm except possibly as a peripheral
> device integrated for mobile apps in the MOL or BEOL (not at the transistor level)- personally
> I seriously doubt III-V will come to logic at all, but certainly not before 5nm.
I think it's quite possible that some classes of devices will never get high mobility materials due to cost constraints. Ironically, I see the best fit for high mobility in servers rather than mobile. Reducing voltage is a big deal for servers if you can keep constant performance.
David