Date: 12/03/2012

PDK from imec supports FinFET and extreme ultra violet for 14nm chip fab

Imec has made available early-version PDK for its semiconductor industry partners (process development kit) for 14nm logic chips supporting new key technologies such as FinFET technology and EUV lithography. Imec said its partners are developing a 14nm test chip to be released in the 2nd half of 2012 using this PDK.

FinFET transistors are the FETs with silicon extending in z-axis (3 dimensional) like fins. FinFETs are said to have high carrier mobility so the FET performance is better at low supply voltages compared to the fully planar FETs.Imec said the evolution of its PDK will gradually also introduce the use of high-mobility channel materials. The PDK also said to include elements of both immersion- and EUV lithography, opening the way for a gradual transition from 193nm immersion to EUV lithography.

Imec says this first 14nm PDK contains all elements for design assessment of the 14nm node through device compact models, parasitic extraction, design rules, parameterized cells (pcells), and basic logic cells.

Other name for FinFETs is mutiple gate transistor. All the leading fabs in the world are going for multiple gate FETs so that even the device is small Multiple gates FETs can reduce leakage current and increase on-state current, making the FET as ideal switch as possibe below 22nm nodes. Intel calls it multiple gate transistor tech as tri-gate 3D transistor which it is using in its 22nm processor chips.

Though TSMC has expertise in FinFETs, it has not spelled out any clear roadmap of using FinFETs. Also another observation made is there is no EDA software announced supporting FinFETs.