14 DAY TRIAL // TSMC has just announced that the company maintains its plans to begin chip trial production using 450mm wafers in the 2013-2014 timeframe, with volume fabrication being scheduled to start as soon as 2015.
The foundry told DigiTimes that it expects to have about 95% of its 450mm production equipment and facilities installed in 2014 and start volume production using these wafers in 2015.
TSMC has however admitted that it still has some technical barriers to surpass as far as the 450mm production is concerned and that these need to be solved in collaboration with equipment and material suppliers.
Without this support, no foundry can ramp up 450mm chip fabrication lines, said TSMC.
The transition to 450mm will also allow TSMC to build fewer fabs, which will in turn lower land and labor costs. The latter are extremely important for the foundry as it's currently facing a shortage of qualified engineers.
According to the same report, the first 450mm wafers will be used for building chips on the 14nm node.
Right now, Intel is the only company, outside of TSMC, that has firm plans to open a 450mm wafer facility, as the Santa Clara-based company is getting ready to start 450mm research and development at its D1X lab sometime in 2013.
The transition to 450mm wafers is a particularly tough one as equipment suppliers are reluctant to develop the tools needed as obtaining the anticipated profit from the switch to 300mm proved to be particularly difficult.
However, analysts believe that 450mm wafers have finally gained momentum as not only Intel and TSMC support this technology, but also some other players in the industry such as Globalfoundries, IBM and Samsung.
To confirm their support for this technology, at the end of September, all these foundries joined forces to form a consortium focused on developing manufacturing technology for 450mm wafers.