TSMC recently introduced its N4X process technology, tailored for products that requires extreme demands of high-performance computing (HPC) such as server CPUs and SoCs. The company said that this will be the first of TSMC’s HPC-focused brand, with the “X” designation representing ultimate performance and maximum clock frequencies.
This is TSMC’s first HPC-focused technology offerings in the 5-nanometer family, and it promises a performance boost of up to 15% over N5, or up to 4% over the even faster N4P at 1.2 volt.
Features of N4X for high-computing products
- Up to 15% performance boost over N5 (at supply voltage of 1.2V) – transistor performance as a function of voltage is optimized, with a slight tradeoff in leakage current
- Higher overdrive voltages beyond 1.2V to unlock additional performance
- Lower resistance and parasitic capacitance of targeted metal layers – back-end-of-line metal layer optimization greatly affects HPC products, due to larger die sizes, higher clock frequencies, and higher operating voltages
- Super-high-density metal-insulator-metal capacitor for most effective and reliable power delivery – Depending on product design, this performance element can minimize supply voltage droop under high current loading and increase product performance by 2~3%.
Risk production for N4X is expected by the first half of 2023, so we can expect the first N4X designs in market by early 2024.
Commenting on the new processing tech, Dr. Kevin Zhang, senior vice president of Business Development at TSMC, said:
HPC is now TSMC’s fastest-growing business segment, and we are proud to introduce N4X, the first in the ‘X’ lineage of our extreme performance semiconductor technologies. The demands of the HPC segment are unrelenting, and TSMC has not only tailored our ‘X’ semiconductor technologies to unleash ultimate performance but has also combined it with our 3DFabric advanced packaging technologies to offer the best HPC platform.