“The industry’s first mass production of 10nm FinFET technology demonstrates our leadership in advanced process technology,” said Jong Shik Yoon, head of Samsung Electronics’ foundry business. “We will continue our efforts to innovate scaling technologies and provide differentiated total solutions to our customers.”
Samsung’s 10nm FinFET process (10LPE) is said to feature an advanced 3D transistor structure with additional enhancements in both process technology and design enablement. Compared to the 14nm process, area efficiency is improved by up to 30%, while devices can either offer 27% better performance or 40% lower power consumption. In order to overcome scaling limitations, cutting edge techniques such as triple-patterning to allow bi-directional routing are also used to retain design and routing flexibility from prior nodes.
Following the introduction of 10LPE, Samsung says a second generation process called 10LPP will bring a further performance boost when it becomes available for mass production in the second half of 2017.