The H1 2025 GAAFET Showdown: An In-depth Analysis of Intel 18A, TSMC N2, and Samsung SF2 Strategies

Foreword: Why is GAAFET the Next Holy Grail in Semiconductor Manufacturing?

As Moore's Law continues its relentless advance, chip manufacturing technology is evolving at an unprecedented pace; when the traditional FinFET (Fin Field-Effect Transistor) architecture gradually approaches its physical limits, the semiconductor industry urgently needs a revolutionary technological breakthrough to sustain improvements in chip performance and reductions in power consumption, and Gate-All-Around FET (GAAFET) technology has emerged under this backdrop, becoming a focal point of immense attention.

The reason GAAFET is hailed as the next holy grail of process technology lies in its superior electrostatic control; compared to FinFET, which can only control the current channel from three sides, GAAFET's design, where the gate completely surrounds the channel, allows for more effective control of current flow, significantly reduces leakage current, and achieves higher performance with lower power consumption at smaller dimensions, which is undoubtedly a crucial advancement for fields like Artificial Intelligence demanding extreme computing power, High-Performance Computing (HPC), and mobile devices with stringent battery life requirements.

Core Principles of GAAFET: Evolution from FinFET to Gate-All-Around

To understand the superiority of GAAFET, we can first review how FinFET operates; imagine current flowing like water through a three-dimensional "fin-shaped" channel, with the gate acting like a faucet controlling the water flow from three sides of the fin, a design that has driven tremendous progress in semiconductor manufacturing over the past decade.

However, as process nodes continue to shrink, the fin width becomes extremely thin, and physical phenomena such as quantum tunneling lead to increasingly severe leakage current issues, diminishing the gate's control over the current; the emergence of GAAFET is precisely to address this bottleneck, by no longer using vertical fins but instead employing horizontally stacked nanosheets or nanowires as current channels, with the gate material completely enveloping these nanosheets, much like holding a water pipe firmly in hand to control the flow more precisely, this all-around control significantly improves the transistor's switching efficiency, reduces power consumption, and allows for further reduction in channel size, bringing greater flexibility to chip design.

Detailed Explanation of the Three Giants' GAAFET Technology Paths

Facing the revolutionary GAAFET technology, the world's three major foundry giants—Intel, TSMC, and Samsung—have all invested heavily in R&D and plan to enter mass production around the first half of 2025; however, their technological paths and strategic focuses differ.

Intel 18A: Dual Innovation of RibbonFET and PowerVia

Intel has named its GAAFET technology RibbonFET, which is essentially a nanosheet transistor; its key feature is the ability to optimize transistor performance and power characteristics for different applications by adjusting the width of the nanosheets, offering greater design flexibility, and even more noteworthy is that Intel's 18A process will integrate its exclusive PowerVia backside power delivery technology, an innovative technique that moves the power delivery network to the backside of the wafer, as traditional chips have both power and signal networks fabricated on the front side, leading to increasingly congested and complex routing as transistor density increases, PowerVia, by moving power lines to the back, can simplify the front-side metal interconnect layers, improve signal integrity, reduce IR drop, and enhance transistor density, the combined force of RibbonFET and PowerVia is seen by Intel as crucial to regaining process leadership.

• RibbonFET: Offers adjustable ribbon width for optimizing performance and power.
  

• PowerVia: Backside power delivery technology, simplifying routing, improving power efficiency, and chip density.
  

• Goal: Aims to surpass competitors in performance and power, with plans for manufacturing readiness by the end of 2024 and mass production in H1 2025.

TSMC N2: Nanosheets and Backside Power Delivery Network with Steady Evolution

TSMC, the global leader in wafer foundry, will also adopt a nanosheet GAAFET architecture for its 2-nanometer process (N2); TSMC's strategy has always been characterized by stability, and for the N2 process, in addition to introducing nanosheet transistors to enhance performance and reduce power consumption, it will also incorporate Backside Power Delivery Network (BSPDN) technology, similar in concept to Intel's PowerVia, BSPDN also aims to optimize power efficiency, improve signal transmission, and increase logic density, TSMC's N2 will initially offer a version without backside power, followed by the N2P version integrating BSPDN, this phased introduction strategy helps control initial mass production risks and ensure stable yield and capacity.

• Nanosheet GAA: Enhances transistor performance, reduces power consumption, and shrinks area.
  

• Backside Power Delivery Network (BSPDN): Phased introduction, optimizing power delivery and routing density.
  

• Goal: To maintain leadership in PPA (Performance, Power, Area), with mass production expected in H2 2025, thus its actual market impact in H1 2025 might still be developing, but its technology roadmap is clear.

Samsung SF2 (2nm-class): Continuous Optimization and Challenges of MBCFET™

Samsung was the first among the three giants to introduce GAAFET technology, with its 3nm process already employing GAA technology called MBCFET™ (Multi-Bridge Channel FET); MBCFET™ is a form of nanosheet technology that enhances drive current by widening the nanosheets, and for its 2nm generation SF2 process, Samsung will continue to optimize its MBCFET™ technology to further improve performance, reduce power consumption, and shrink area, however, Samsung faced significant yield challenges in the initial mass production of GAAFET, which has affected market confidence in its advanced processes, whether the SF2 process can overcome these challenges and attract sufficient customer orders will be key to its competitive position in 2025.

• MBCFET™ Continuous Optimization: Further PPA improvements on its existing GAA foundation.
  

• Early Adoption Experience: Has earlier GAA mass production experience compared to the other two, but also with a learning curve.
  

• Challenge: Yield improvement and rebuilding customer trust will be crucial tasks, with mass production expected to start in 2025.

Key Technical Specifications and Strategy Comparison

Feature	Intel 18A	TSMC N2/N2P	Samsung SF2
GAAFET Type	RibbonFET (Nanosheet)	Nanosheet	MBCFET™ (Nanosheet)
Backside Power Tech	PowerVia	BSPDN (introduced in N2P)	In development, introduction timeline less clear
Key Innovations	Adjustable channel width, PowerVia integration	Robust nanosheet tech, phased BSPDN introduction	Early GAA experience, continuous MBCFET™ optimization
Est. Mass Production	H1 2025	N2 approx. H2 2025, N2P later	2025
Strategic Focus	Major tech overhaul, aiming for process leadership	Stable progression, ensuring yield and customer demand	Overcoming yield challenges, expanding customer base
Potential Advantages	Significant power & density benefits if PowerVia succeeds	High tech maturity, complete ecosystem	Earlier GAA experience, cost potential if yield improves
Potential Challenges	New tech integration risk, PowerVia production maturity	N2 initially without BSPDN, N2P introduction timeline & benefits TBD	Yield ramp-up speed, market competition

Manufacturing Challenges and Future Breakthroughs for GAAFET

Despite the bright prospects of GAAFET, its manufacturing process faces numerous challenges; for instance, stacking nanosheets requires extremely high precision, as any minor deviation can affect transistor characteristics, and processes like high-quality channel material epitaxy, precise nanosheet structure etching, and ensuring uniform gate material coverage are all highly challenging, furthermore, the introduction of new materials, such as high-mobility channel materials or low-resistance contact materials, and their corresponding process integration, require substantial R&D investment and validation.

Future breakthroughs may lie in:

• Material Innovation: Exploring new channel materials like 2D materials (e.g., Molybdenum Disulfide, MoS2) to further enhance transistor performance.
  

• Structural Optimization: For example, Complementary FETs (CFETs) with vertically stacked NMOS and PMOS transistors, aiming for higher transistor density.
  

• Process Control Advancement: Utilizing more advanced metrology and inspection techniques, coupled with AI-assisted process control, to improve yield and stability.
  

• Lithography Synergy: The introduction of High-NA EUV (Extreme Ultraviolet) lithography is crucial for patterning finer GAA structures.

Application Scenarios and Market Potential: How Will GAAFET Change Our Technological Lives?

The maturation and popularization of GAAFET technology will have a profound impact on numerous tech sectors:

• High-Performance Computing (HPC) & Artificial Intelligence (AI): AI model training and inference require massive computational power; GAAFET's high performance and low power characteristics can enable AI chips to deliver greater computing capabilities at the same power envelope or significantly reduce energy consumption for the same performance, crucial for data center energy efficiency.
  

• Mobile Devices: Smartphones, laptops, and other mobile devices have extremely high demands for battery life; GAAFET can effectively reduce processor power consumption, extend usage time, and simultaneously improve processing speed for a smoother user experience.
  

• Automotive Electronics: With the increasing intelligence and electrification of vehicles, the demand for automotive chips is growing; GAAFET can meet the high-performance and high-reliability requirements for applications like autonomous driving and smart cockpits.
  

• Internet of Things (IoT) & Edge Computing: Numerous IoT devices need to process data and communicate with limited energy; GAAFET's low-power characteristic makes it an ideal choice.

In terms of market potential, as digital transformation accelerates, the demand for advanced process chips will only increase; vendors who are first to master GAAFET mass production technology and can provide stable capacity with good yields will hold a very advantageous competitive position in the semiconductor market in the coming years.

Conclusion: Outlook for the 2025 GAAFET Battle and Future Implications

The first half of 2025 will be a critical period for GAAFET technology transitioning from laboratories to large-scale commercial application; Intel, with its dual innovations of RibbonFET and PowerVia, demonstrates strong ambition; TSMC, relying on its deep technological accumulation and steady advancement strategy, strives to extend its market leadership into the N2 generation; and Samsung hopes to make a comeback in the GAAFET era by continuously optimizing its MBCFET™ and overcoming yield challenges.

This technological race is not just about individual companies' market shares; it will profoundly influence the development direction of the entire semiconductor industry and the future landscape of tech products, for general consumers, the success of GAAFET means faster, more power-efficient, and more powerful electronic products; for industry professionals, it represents new opportunities and challenges, whoever can first overcome the technical hurdles and achieve stable, cost-effective mass production will take the lead in this century's GAAFET gamble, spearheading chip technology for the next decade, the outcome of this race is certainly one to watch.