The daunting complexity of scaling to 7NM without EUV: pushing DTCO to the extreme

Abstract

This paper reviews the most critical components of a ‘holistic’ DTCO flow for an advanced technology node and in doing so quantifies the differences between 7nm technology node definitions implemented with extreme ultraviolet and 193nm immersion lithography. The DTCO topics covered include: setting scaling targets for critical pitches, gear-ratios, and cell height; defining a set of patterning solutions, required RET restrictions, and resulting patterning cost; compiling physical design objectives to achieve power, performance, and area scaling; developing a set of standard cell logic cell architectures; and finally assessing achievable cell-level as well as macro-level scaling.