Samsung has only begun producing a 7-nanometer chip, but has already taken another major step to keep up with Moore law.
The company today said it had started work on new 5-nanometer chips and will begin building them for smartphones and other devices in the second trimester of 2020.
The benefits will not be enormous but significant. For example, users will receive 20% less energy consumption and 10% more speed.
The 5-nanometer transistors are so small that you can put 2,000 in the width of a human hair.
The company will use the same EUV (Extreme Ultraviolet) technology it has used to produce 7-nanometer chips. The EUV currently has a 13.5-nanometer beam width although long-awaited is a difficult process to achieve.
However, it remains very much needed to send the chip to the next level and stay at Moore’s law that says the number of transistors on a processor plate doubles every 24 months.
But reducing the transistor has created problems. GlobalFoundries, the former AMD manufacturer, recently said it will not produce 7-nanometer chips because they are very costly.
On the other hand, Samsung said that the first EUV line designed to produce 7-nanometer chips has cost the company $6 billion.
Samsung will not be alone in the 5-nanometer race because last TSMC introduced prototypes for consumers. Promised to increase transistors by 80% compared to 25% that Samsung says and performance 15% more compared to the 10% rival.
Samsung manufactures chips not only for self but also for Qualcomm while TSMC manufactures the Apple A11 and A12 chips.
Intel, Samsung and TSMC are the only manufacturers of EUV chips using advanced lithographic technologies developed by the Dutch ASML company.
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