Samsung's 28nm HKMG Inside Apple's A7
Sinjin Dixon-Warren, ChipWorks
EETimes (1/21/2014 08:00 AM EST)
The Apple A7 processor used inside the iPhone 5s represents an extraordinary piece of engineering. At ChipWorks, we analyzed and discussed some of the Apple A7's details, such as the die layout, in an earlier blog.
The A7 is fabricated with Samsung’s 28nm low-power, gate-first, high-k metal gate (HKMG) process technology. The process features nine layers of copper metallization with low-k dielectrics, plus an additional top aluminum metal layer. This blog will focus on the front end of line (FEOL) transistor structure used in the A7, with comparison to advanced technologies used by both Apple and other vendors. The A7 gate-first transistor structure is based on the Common Platform Technology, which is an alliance of IBM, Samsung, and GlobalFoundries.
Chipworks has analyzed several generations of the Samsung process used to fabricate the A-series processors used in the iPhone and other Apple products. The A4 processor, released in September 2010, used a Samsung 45nm polysilicon transistor process technology with 180nm contacted gate pitch. The NMOS and PMOS transistor structures were essentially identical, with the main observable differences being in the materials used for the polysilicon gate and source/drain silicides.
E-mail This Article | Printer-Friendly Page |
Related News
Breaking News
- Frontgrade Gaisler Unveils GR716B, a New Standard in Space-Grade Microcontrollers
- Blueshift Memory launches BlueFive processor, accelerating computation by up to 50 times and saving up to 65% energy
- Eliyan Ports Industry's Highest Performing PHY to Samsung Foundry SF4X Process Node, Achieving up to 40 Gbps Bandwidth at Unprecedented Power Levels with UCIe-Compliant Chiplet Interconnect Technology
- CXL Fabless Startup Panmnesia Secures Over $60M in Series A Funding, Aiming to Lead the CXL Switch Silicon Chip and CXL IP
- Cadence Unveils Arm-Based System Chiplet
Most Popular
- Cadence Unveils Arm-Based System Chiplet
- CXL Fabless Startup Panmnesia Secures Over $60M in Series A Funding, Aiming to Lead the CXL Switch Silicon Chip and CXL IP
- Esperanto Technologies and NEC Cooperate on Initiative to Advance Next Generation RISC-V Chips and Software Solutions for HPC
- Eliyan Ports Industry's Highest Performing PHY to Samsung Foundry SF4X Process Node, Achieving up to 40 Gbps Bandwidth at Unprecedented Power Levels with UCIe-Compliant Chiplet Interconnect Technology
- Arteris Selected by GigaDevice for Development in Next-Generation Automotive SoC With Enhanced FuSa Standards