Last summer, it was reported that Taiwanese contract semiconductor manufacturer TSMC was going to introduce a new trend in the industry.
We are talking about the transition from the use of silicon wafers with a classic round shape to rectangular substrates with dimensions of 510 × 515 mm. Now it is reported that according to the results of the first tests, TSMC chose square substrates measuring 310 × 310 mm.
Currently, all chipmakers produce chips on round silicon wafers with a diameter of up to 300 mm. At the same time, the chips themselves have a square or rectangular shape, which leads to not very economical consumption of materials.
Switching to square or rectangular substrates can solve this problem, but it will require changing the entire infrastructure and radically changing the equipment processing silicon substrates.
TSMC has decided on the parameters of a new generation of square-shaped substrates and will begin to be used in small quantities in the company’s factories from 2027.
Moreover, TSMC has already started construction of a pilot production line in Taoyuan, where it plans to start processing square substrates of the selected standard size from 2027.