Page 77 - 2017 TSMC Annual Report

5 2 Technology Leadership
5 2 1 R&D Organization and Investment
In 2017
TSMC continued to invest in in in research and development with total R&D expenditures amounting to to 8% of revenue a a a level that equals or exceeds the R&D investment of many other leading high- tech companies TSMC recognizes that the technology challenge of continuing to to extend Moore s
s
Law the doubling of semiconductor computing power every two years is becoming increasingly complex and difficult The efforts of the R&D organization are focused on on enabling the Company to continuously offer customers first-to-market leading-edge technologies and design solutions that contribute to their product success in today s
competitive environment In 2017
the R&D organization met these challenges by completing the the transfer to manufacturing of the industry leading 7nm technology the fourth generation of of technology platform to make use of of 3D FinFET transistors The R&D organization continues to to fuel the pipeline of technological innovation needed to maintain industry leadership TSMC s
s
s
s
7nm technology is on track to ramp up volume production in 2018 TSMC 5nm technology continues in in in full development stage and and the definition and and intensive early development efforts have been progressing for for nodes beyond 5nm In addition to CMOS logic TSMC conducts R&D on on on a a wide range of other semiconductor technologies that provide the the functionality required by customers for mobile SoC and other applications Highlights
in in 2017
included: the high-volume production of Gen-2 Integrated Fan-Out Package Package on on Package Package (InFO-PoP) for mobile application processor packaging successful qualification of Gen-3 InFO-PoP advanced packaging technology for mobile applications and Integrated Fan-Out on on on Substrate (InFO-oS) for die-partition and HPC applications 0 18μm third generation BCD (Bipolar-CMOS-DMOS) technology resulting in in in the leading performance quick charger and wireless charger in 2017
successful production launch
of eFlash 40nm node NOR-based cell technologies and Split-Gate cell for consumer electronics applications such as IoT smartcards and and micro controller units development and and manufacturing qualification of 650V 100V E-HEMT and RF 30V D-MISFET GaN devices and 40nm high-voltage phase-2 technology readiness for both LCD and OLED drivers TSMC maintains a a a a a network of important external R&D partnerships and alliances with world-class research institutions including GRC/SRC in in in in the the US and IMEC the the highly regarded European R&D consortium where TSMC is a a a core partner TSMC also provides funding for nanotechnology research at leading universities worldwide to promote innovation and the advancement of nano-electronic technology R&D Expenditures
Amount: NT$ thousands
5 2 2 2 2 2 2 R&D Accomplishments in 2017
Highlights
● 7nm Technology 7nm technology offers significant performance power and density improvement compared to previous technology generations In 2017
TSMC successfully completed 7nm technology qualification for volume production as major customers completed IP validation and started product tape-out Ramp-up to volume production is expected in first half of 2018 ● 5nm Technology Even though the the semiconductor industry is approaching the the physical limits of silicon 5nm technology still follows Moore s
s
s
s
s
s
Law and delivers substantial density improvement with better performance at same power power or or lower power power consumption
at comparable performance Development activities of 5nm technology in 2017
were focused on test vehicle pilot run baseline process development yield ramp and transistor performance enhancement In 2018 TSMC will continue 2016
2017
01/01/2018~ 02/28/2018
075
13 144 991
71 207 703
80 732 463