Samsung Announces 10nm SoC In Mass-Production

An anonymous reader quotes a report from AnandTech: Today Samsung announced mass production of a SoC built on its third-generation 10nm "10LPE" manufacturing node. It was only this January that Samsung announced mass production of its 14LPP process that ended up being used in the Exynos 8890 and the Snapdragon 820 powering up a large amount of flagship devices this year. There wasn't any specification as to what kind of SoC the mass production announcement is referring to, but it's very likely we're talking about S.LSI's next generation Exynos -- or maybe even Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 successor, both of which we'll hopefully hear official announcements from in the coming months. The process promises some significant speed and power efficiency advantages over current generation designs so it's likely the next generation of devices will see a large boost, similarly to how the first 14/16 SoCs had large improvements over previous generation 20/28nm designs. Interestingly the new SoCs will have an edge on recent and upcoming designs still being released on 16nm manufacturing processes, such as Apple's A10 or other TSMC customers who have to wait till next year for 10FF. Samsung writes in its press release: "Samsung's new 10nm FinFET process (10LPE) adopts an advanced 3D transistor structure with additional enhancements in both process technology and design enablement compared to its 14nm predecessor, allowing up to 30-percent increase in area efficiency with 27-percent higher performance or 40-percent lower power consumption. In order to overcome scaling limitations, cutting edge techniques such as triple-patterning to allow bi-directional routing are also used to retain design and routing flexibility from prior nodes."

wow

[bugs2squash]

this is going to be HOT

Re:

[TomGreenhaw]

They are really on fire. The performance is going to be blazing with a lot more bang for your buck. They are smoking the competition.

Sorry - couldn't help myself. I actually like the Samsung products I've owned...

Re:

[sconeu]

It's explosive news!! This will arrive with a bang!

Re:

[OneHundredAndTen]

I am inflamed, bursting with joy!

Re:

[sims 2]

I still think catching fire is a great feature but it needs to work on demand instead of at random.

'good old HCF

[stooo]

Samsung is implementing support for the good old HCF instruction
But they are working hard to implement a safety CPF instruction (Continue, Prevent Fire), to be sure you don't explode the device too soon.

Fire suppression

[QuietLagoon]

Will it have built-in fire suppression? I know, that's the feature I'll be looking for in my next Samsung phone.

Re:for those of us who don't work next to Bunny Hu

[bugs2squash]

Source of Conflagration

Re:

[Breaker_1]

System on Chip

SoC - standard term of art

[Anonymous Coward]

Are you a high level web programmer

You could have just said "are you not actually a programmer?"

I am perfectly willing to go with "If you don't know what an SoC is, you are definitely not a programmer, you're probably not even worthy of the not-very-kind appellation 'script kiddy.' The word that comes to mind is actually 'clueless.""

Re:

[cant_get_a_good_nick]

welcome to slashdot... where people say "i don't know X, please teach me" and the response is "FUCK YOU HOW COME YOU DON'T KNOW X!!!"

I exaggerate for effect, but not by much.

Think of it this way, what abstraction layer is being broken if you don't know what an SoC is? What model of programming is broken? If you don't know a CPU from a GPU, yeah, you're gonna fail at some point. If you think all memory is the same and you don't think of cache vs RAM vs spinning rust, then you'll have an unacceptable app.

Re:

[unixisc]

Actually, to be fair, while /. is on top of every software concept out there, it is pretty clueless when it comes to the semiconductor industry

Re:

[Hognoxious]

The first one is Compact Pyrotechnic Unit.

Re:

[cant_get_a_good_nick]

System on a Chip. Basically the guts of whatever you're building. You may have other chipsets for auxiliary purposes (radios, GPS, etc) but this is what makes your device. In this case, it is a bit vague, since you can have SoC for a lot of reasons. But we all can assume it's an ARM based chip for use in Android products.

In my local appliance store, they're selling a Samsung fridge with Windows 10 on it. I've seen the horror that you've seen. THE HORROR.

More like "10nm(TM)"

[RightSaidFred99]

The "nanometers" game is a big scam. You can call your process whatever you want based on any of various parameters and based on how you want to market it.

Not sure how Samsung's stacks up, but TSMC is claiming they will soon have 10nm (TM) soon and their process is more like a traditional 14-16nm process.

It's all a bunch of fakery and lies. The proof is in the pudding of performance, yield, and profits due to density.

Re:

[Rockoon]

They are saying it is a 30% increase in transistor density. This figure probably isnt a lie. Intel was the first company to begin to falsely state feature size, so just follow the transistor counts and chip sizes.

30% is a pretty good gain.

Re:

[Tough Love]

Has Samsung actually leapfrogged Intel in fabrication technology?

Uncontrollable innovation

[martinX]

Let's hope Samsung doesn't pack it with so much innovation that it becomes uncontrollable.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016... [nytimes.com]

LOL @ Zeitgeist

[Anonymous Coward]

So here we have an article about a technical thing on Slashdot and we see an example of the cultural zeitgeist. We all know about the Note 7 and we all want to be part of the in-joke, so you see post after post about fires and explosions.

Re:

[bugs2squash]

You're right, sorry. We should stick to the technology discussion. I hear they're going to use this in the Kindle.

Re:

[bn-7bc]

Ok I'll try to ask a slightly on topic question , how big a gein in power eficiensy will this give over a SoC produced with the previous gate demention?

Re:

[Desler]

Couldn't be bothered to read the summary?

and design enablement compared to its 14nm predecessor, allowing up to 30-percent increase in area efficiency with 27-percent higher performance or 40-percent lower power consumption.

Re:

[Desler]

Well it's just that we can't all pack as much innovation into our posts as Samsung did into the Note 7.

Re:

[Tough Love]

Worst thing is, they leave out the inb4.

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

How does this compare to Intel

[jonwil]

How does the technology being used for these chips compare to the latest and greatest Intel are doing? Intel has had fabs that are a generation or 2 in front of everyone else for many years now, does this new technology mean someone is finally catching up to Intel?

Re:

[edxwelch]

Intel will have 10nm next year which is more dense than Samsung's 10nm, but on the other hand the yield isn't too good. It won't be until 2018 that the 10nm yield is good enough for their 4 core chips.
By that time TSMC have 7nm which is denser than Intel's 10nm. So basically, yes Intel has lost the lead. TSMC will be ahead of everybody in 2018.

Penis Size

[stooo]

Yeah, such small Penis sizes exist only in Marketing, for sure.

Re:

[Tough Love]

So basically, yes Intel has lost the lead. TSMC will be ahead of everybody in 2018.

It's the sense I'm getting. And basically, it reflects the shift from a PC-centric market to phone-centric.

acid reflux hellban honeypot

[epine]

Somehow this story showed up in my Slashdot feed, when it's really just supposed to trigger a mass outpouring of the reflex derision arc among those so inclined (said barf cookies falsely paraded by its practitioners as chuckle fodder).

"There, don't you feel better now? Now come sit with us at the adult table." Amazing what a quickie bile purge can accomplish in raising the level of discussion elsewhere.

This is all good. Yet somehow my dank, reeking bile seems to have been misclassified as grasshopper lip