The N12e™ commissioned manufacturing, design ecosystem, and product research services bring TSMC’s world class FinFET transistor technology. N12e™, deriving from TSMC’s 16nm FinFET technology first introduced in 2013, provides manufacturing services of technology with further power saving, and significant leakage current reduction by innovative device fabrication approaches through years of research and process development. The N12e™ services provides complete manufacturing solutions including low Vdd, low leakage devices, RRAM and RF on top of TSMC 12FFC+ process technology. TSMC 16/12 nm technologies have been adopted widely in today’s supercomputers and high-performance computing devices like GPUs and Network Processors. TSMC further brings the outstanding performance of supercomputer technology to varieties of IoT and consumer devices to unleash innovations with its comprehensive N12e™ differentiated manufacturing, design and product research services.
The next generation of AI and 5G IOT devices will be transformative and deliver new levels of intelligence, functionality, connectivity and performance at the edge. These AI-enabled IOT edge devices will have capabilities beyond the IOT devices of today including Natural Speech Recognition, Enhanced Machine Vision and Smart Health Monitoring.
5G will bring enhanced connectivity for IOT devices. 5G networks can support up to 1 million devices per 0.38 square miles versus 2000 for a 4G network. 5G networks will also offer better latency over 4G networks, which is mission critical for time sensitive workloads, like car safety or industrial automation.
The AI and 5G enhanced IOT devices will demand more compute performance and equally important, improved power efficiency and longer battery life. While these requirements may seem at odds with each other, TSMC has been able to deliver the optimal balance with N12e. We are excited for the new class of IOT devices that 5G and AI will enable.
All diagrams, animations and videos are for demonstrative and illustrative purposes only
Compared to TSMC’s 22ULL, N12e™ offers:
76% improvement in Logic density – allowing smaller and more cost effective designs or, in the same given area, packing many more transistors for added compute cores and memory.
49% improvement in speed at a given power – a big leap forward for IOT devices at any given power level. N12e has much more headroom for higher frequency and to deliver much more performance over planar technologies.
55% improvement in power consumption at a given speed – a broad range of performance-to-power options allowing for use in many different product designs
More than 50% reduction in SRAM leakage current – critical for improved battery life as well as reduced heat generation and thermal dissipation
Low Vdd Design Ecosystem Solution – Reducing both active power and leakage power for battery-operated products. N12e can support 0.4V operation
