ARM Inks Deal With TSMC To Develop Sub-20nm Procs With 3D Transistors

Posted 07/23/2012 at 10:59am | by Brad Chacos

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ARM's relentless attack on Intel's dominant position continues. In recent months, the mobile-friendly company has won major victories in the form of the ARM-compatible Windows RT operating system and cracking the 3.0GHz clock speed barrier with a smaller, 28nm-based Cortex A9. Now, ARM's following Intel's lead on another major front: 3D transistors. Today, ARM announced it has signed a long-term deal with TSMC to develop sub-20nm 64-bit CPUs based around TSMC's FinFET 3D transistor technology.

Intel's leap into Tri-Gate 3D transistors gave Ivy Bridge a big jump in power efficiency and a decent performance boost. ARM's processors -- more specifically, mostly its Cortex A9 processors -- are already found in scads of mobile devices and boast impressive energy efficiency; switching to 3D transistors could make ARM-powered smartphones and tablets last even longer.

Meanwhile, focusing on the 64-bit ARMv8 architecture in these 3D transistor-based chips -- current ARM procs are 32-bit -- opens up the doors for ARM in higher-end computing and server applications.  Prototype ARMv8 systems aren't expected to start showing up until 2014, however.

The big question is: can TSMC actually keep up with market demand? Making the jump to 28nm has been difficult for the fab company, and adding vertical transistors adds a whole new dimension of complexity (literally).