The Nanosheet Transistor Is The Next (And Maybe Last) Step In Moore's Law

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Nanosheet devices are scheduled for the 3-nanometer node as soon as 2021

spectrum.ieee.org, Jul. 30, 2021 – 

The modern microprocessor is among the world's most complex systems, but at its heart is a very simple, and we think beautiful, device: the transistor. There are billions of them in a microprocessor today, and they are nearly all identical. So improving the performance and boosting the density of these transistors is the most straightforward way to make microprocessors–and the computers they power–work better.

That's the premise behind Moore's Law, even now that it's (almost) at an end. You see, making smaller, better transistors for microprocessors is getting more and more difficult, not to mention fantastically expensive. Only Intel, Samsung, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) are equipped to operate at this frontier of miniaturization. They are all manufacturing integrated circuits at the equivalent of what is called the 7-nanometer node. That name, a vestige of the early days of Moore's Law, doesn't have a clear physical meaning anymore, but it nevertheless reflects the degree to which features and devices on an integrated circuit are miniaturized.

Right now, 7 nm is the cutting edge, but Samsung and TSMC announced in April that they were beginning the move to the next node, 5 nm. Samsung had some additional news: It has decided that the kind of transistor the industry had been using for nearly a decade has run its course. For the following node, 3 nm, which should begin limited manufacture around 2020, it is working on a completely new design.

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