The "28 nm" lithography process is a half-node semiconductor manufacturing process based on a die shrink of the "32 nm" lithography process.[1] It appeared in production in 2010.[2]
Since at least 1997, "process nodes" have been named purely on a marketing basis, and have no direct relation to the dimensions on the integrated circuit;[3] neither gate length, metal pitch or gate pitch on a "28nm" device is twenty-eight nanometers.[4][5][6][7]
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has offered "28 nm" production using high-K metal gate process technology.[8]
GlobalFoundries offers a "28nm" foundry process called the "28SLPe" ("28nm Super Low Power") foundry process, which uses high-K metal gate technology.[9]
Design
"28nm" requires twice the number of design rules for ensuring reliability in manufacturing as "80nm".[10]
Shipped devices
AMD's Radeon HD 7970 uses a graphics processing unit manufactured using a "28nm" process.[11]
Some models of the PS3 use a RSX 'Reality Synthesizer' chip manufactured using a "28nm" process.[12]
FPGAs produced with "28 nm" process technology include models of the Xilinx Artix 7 FPGAs and Altera Cyclone V FPGAs.[13]