Samsung jumps on the backside power delivery bandwagon
Samsung's chip manufacturing division is launching several production processes in the 2-nanometer class. One of these will have a new type of power supply.
A random silicon wafer that does not come from Samsung.
(Image: c't)
From 2025, Samsung Foundry – the company's chip manufacturing division – wants to start its own series production with its first nominal 2-nanometer process. However, it remains to be seen how much 2 nm there is in the SF2 process.
A Samsung spokesperson told Anandtech that it is a renamed production technology. SF2 was formerly known as SF3P, i.e. an improved version of SF3. Accordingly, the improvements are manageable: At the SF2 announcement in June 2023, Samsung claimed a 12 percent increase in performance thanks to faster transistor circuits. Alternatively, the electrical power consumption is reduced by 25 percent with the same performance. The transistor density only increases by a few percent.
The comparison between SF3 and SF2 is also flawed, as there is still no known chip with Samsung's 3 nm production technology. The chip contract manufacturer already announced series production with so-called gate-all-around transistors in the summer of 2022, but there does not appear to be a particularly high demand. Samsung's manufacturing processes are considered inferior to those of TSMC, despite having the same name.
(Image: Samsung Foundry)
Bottom-side power supply also from Samsung Foundry
Samsung Foundry plans to introduce four more SF2 variants by 2027, for example for high-performance processors, accelerators and automotive chips. The chip manufacturer is expected to introduce a major innovation in 2027 with SF2Z: Backside Powerdelivery, i.e. the underside power supply of the transistors in the silicon chip.
Samsung is thus following its competitors Intel Foundry and TSMC, who have already announced similar technology. Intel calls the whole thing power vias and wants to introduce them this year with the 20A process. TSMC is expected to launch them as a superpower rail with A16 in 2026.
Up to now, power has been supplied via metal layers on the top of the chips. However, this is also where the metal layers that connect the signals of the transistors are located. As the number of transistors increases and their dimensions shrink, the signal and power paths become increasingly intertwined. The power supply at the rear therefore creates more space for interconnection.
Samsung also plans to manufacture semiconductors with SF1.4 technology in 2027, but apparently without backside power delivery. Customers would then have to decide whether they want the better transistors or the advantages of the backside power supply.
(mma)
