How Apple Gets Ahead with the 3 nm Chip Technology

 TLDR

Apple has secured a deal with TSMC, the world’s largest chip maker, to buy all the 3 nm chips it can produce for its future iPhones and Macs. The 3 nm process is a new and advanced technology that can make chips faster and more efficient. However, it also has a high rate of defects, which means many chips are unusable. Apple’s deal with TSMC allows it to avoid paying for these defective chips, saving it billions of dollars. This gives Apple an edge over its competitors, who also rely on TSMC for their chips but have to pay for every chip they order. Apple’s 3 nm chips are expected to power its M3 series processors for Macs and the A17 Bionic for some next-gen iPhones.

 

Chip Manufacturing and the 3 nm Technology

Chips, or integrated circuits (ICs), are the tiny electronic devices that power our computers, smartphones, and other gadgets. They are made of silicon wafers that are cut into thin slices and then processed with various techniques to create complex patterns of transistors and wires. These patterns form the logic and memory functions of the chips.

How Chips Are Made

The chip manufacturing process involves hundreds of steps and can take up to four months from design to mass production

• Deposition: This is the process of adding thin layers of materials, such as metals, insulators, or semiconductors, on top of the silicon wafer. These layers are used to create different components of the chip, such as gates, contacts, and interconnects.
• Photoresist coating: This is the process of applying a light-sensitive material, called photoresist, on top of the deposited layer. The photoresist is used to protect some areas of the layer from being exposed to light in the next step.
• Lithography: This is the process of transferring a pattern from a mask onto the photoresist-coated layer using a beam of light. The mask is a template that contains the desired shape of the chip features. The light changes the chemical properties of the exposed photoresist, making it either soluble or insoluble in a developer solution.
• Etching: This is the process of removing the unwanted parts of the deposited layer by applying a chemical or physical agent. The etching agent only affects the areas where the photoresist has been removed by the developer solution, leaving behind the desired pattern on the silicon wafer.
• Ion implantation: This is the process of altering the electrical characteristics of some regions of the silicon wafer by bombarding them with ions. The ions are atoms or molecules that have been stripped of some electrons, giving them a positive or negative charge. The ions penetrate into the silicon wafer and change its conductivity, creating regions called p-type or n-type.
• Packaging: This is the final step of chip manufacturing, where the finished silicon wafer is cut into individual chips and mounted on a package. The package is a protective casing that connects the chip to external circuits and provides power and cooling.

Why 3 nm Technology Matters

One of the main challenges in chip manufacturing is to make chips smaller, faster, and more efficient. To achieve this, chip makers try to reduce the size of the transistors and wires on the chip, measured in nanometers (nm). The smaller the size, the more transistors can fit on a chip, increasing its performance and reducing its power consumption.

The 3 nm technology is a new and advanced manufacturing process that can create chips with features as small as 3 nm. This is about 10 times smaller than a human red blood cell or 30 times smaller than a coronavirus particle. The 3 nm technology can enable chips that are up to 30% faster and 15% more efficient than the current 5 nm technology.

However, making chips at such a small scale also comes with many challenges. One of them is the high rate of defects, which means many chips are unusable due to errors or flaws in their patterns. Normally, chip makers have to pay for every chip they order from their suppliers, regardless of whether they work or not. This can increase their costs significantly.

Apple has secured a deal with TSMC, one of the world’s largest chip suppliers, to buy all the 3 nm chips it can produce for its future iPhones and Macs. Apple’s deal with TSMC allows it to avoid paying for defective chips, saving it billions of dollars. This gives Apple an edge over its competitors, who also rely on TSMC for their chips but have to pay for every chip they order.

The 3 nm technology is expected to power Apple’s M3 series processors for Macs and the A17 Bionic for some next-gen iPhones. These chips will offer higher performance and lower power consumption than their predecessors, enabling new features and applications for Apple’s devices.