TSMC
In an article published by TSMC, NTU and MIT in Nature (as reported by Verdict), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and its research partners at the National University of Taiwan (NTU) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have claimed to have made a material that will be used for transistor contact electrodes in the future 1nm manufacturing process. transistors, as well as the most suitable materials, for their creation. In fact, the contacts of the transistors that carry power to them are fundamental for their performance. Further miniaturization of semiconductor process technologies increases contact resistance, which limits their performance. Therefore, TSMC and other chip makers had to find a material with very low resistance, so as to transfer high currents and be used for mass production.The report indicates the use of semi-metallic bismuth (Bi) as the contact electrode of the transistors to greatly reduce the resistance and increase the current. TSMC currently uses tungsten interconnects (made using a selective deposition process), while Intel uses cobalt interconnects. Both have their advantages and require specific manufacturing tools. In an attempt to use semi-metallic bismuth as the contact electrode of the transistors, the researchers had to use a helium ion beam lithography (HIB) system and design an 'easy deposition process'. This "process" has only been used on a production line under development, so it is not yet ready for mass production.
Right now, TSMC's 1nm node is still in its early stages and the foundry is experimenting with various options. The manufacturing process will not be used for high-volume production for years to come and there is no guarantee that semi-metallic bismuth will actually be employed.
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