Samsung Announces Second-Gen 14nm Low Power Plus (14LPP) Process Now In Mass Production
by Andrei Frumusanu on January 14, 2016 6:40 AM EST
Today Samsung Semiconductor officialy announces mass production for its second generation 14nm FinFET manufacturing node. Early last year we saw Samsung announce mass production of its first generation FinFET process that was used in the Exynos 7420 which powered last year's flagships from Samsung Mobile and Meizu.
"We are pleased to start production of our industry-leading, 2nd generation 14nm FinFET process technology that delivers the highest level of performance and power efficiency” said Charlie Bae, Executive Vice President of Sales & Marketing, System LSI Business, Samsung Electronics. "Samsung will continue to offer derivative processes of its advanced 14nm FinFET technology to maintain our technology leadership."
The second generation process called 14LPP (Low-Power Plus) is advertised as bringing performance as well as power improvements over the 14LPE (Low-Power Early) predecessor. The new node is described as being able to increase switching speed of up to 15% and decreasing power consumption by up to 15%.
The improvements are made possible via transistor structure changes and process optimizations, for example we see usage of a taller fin height compared to that of 14LPE. Samsung has also improved silicon straining and describes usage of fully-depleted FinFET transistors being able to bring enhanced manufacturing capabilities.
The 14LPP process is confirmed to be used in Samsung LSI's own Exynos 8890 as well as Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 SoCs, which we should be seeing more of in devices coming in the next months. As GlobalFoundries licenses Samsung's process node as we should also see CPU and GPU products from AMD produced on the new manufacturing node.
Source: Samsung
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iwod - Thursday, January 14, 2016 - link
I think, this will edge out TSMC 16nm FF+ slightly. But TSMC 16nm FFC is coming out this year as well.kaze102477 - Friday, January 15, 2016 - link
No,TSMC 16+ still edge out 14nm LPP.Alexvrb - Sunday, January 17, 2016 - link
LPE is already fairly competitive with FF+, and LPP is way better than LPE. So what makes you think TSMC would still hold the edge? They need FFC to compete with LPP, who knows when FFC will be ready for volume.olderkid - Thursday, January 14, 2016 - link
So at this point, has Samsung caught Intel or is Intel's 14nm better? Remember everyone talking about how Intel had a 2 year lead or a process and a half lead. Seems not to be the case anymore.extide - Thursday, January 14, 2016 - link
Intel's 14nm is better. It's a true shrink from 22nm.Hulk - Thursday, January 14, 2016 - link
So in "Intel terms" what size is this process? 16nm? 18nm? Apples-to-Apples.Yojimbo - Sunday, January 17, 2016 - link
I don't think it's that simple. There are a bunch of factors determining the quality of the node. I don't think there's any single number distillate that will accurately describe it.T1beriu - Thursday, January 14, 2016 - link
I could be wrong, but If I'm remembering correctly, TSMC and Samsung added FinFet to their 20nm and calling it 14/16.eldakka - Thursday, January 14, 2016 - link
TSMCs process is 20nm based, which us why it's labeled as 16nm (20nm with FinFet and other enhancements make it, at least according to TSMC, equivalent to 16nm)Samsung's (and licensee GF's) process is (apparently) true 14nm.
kaze102477 - Friday, January 15, 2016 - link
But TSMC's 16+ still better than SS's 14LPP