IEDM 2019: Samsung to use 14nm FinFET Process for 144MP Sensor

Samsung presented 14nm FinFET process optimized for imaging applications at IEDM last week: "14nm FinFET process technology platform for over 100M pixel density and ultra low power 3D Stack CMOS Image Sensor" by Donghee Yu, Choong jae Lee, Myounkyu Park, Junghwan Park, Seungju Hwang, Joonhyung Lee, Sunghun Yu, Hyunjung Shin, ByoungHo Kim, Jong-Won Choi, Sangil Jung, Minho Kwon2, Il-Seon Ha, Chaesung Kim, Sanghyun Cho, Seunghyun Lim, Won-Woong Kim, Moo-Young Kim, Seonghye Park, Ki-Don Lee3, Rakesh Ranjan, Shigenobu Maeda, and Gitae Jeong.

"CMOS Image Sensor(CIS) products need higher voltage device and better analog characteristics than conventional SOC & Logic products. This work presents newly developed 14nm FinFET process with 2.xV high voltage FinFET device characteristics showing excellent analog and low power digital characteristics comparing to 28nm planar process. Gm is improved by 30% and 67% in FinFET process for NMOS and PMOS, respectively. Rout characteristics increased by 40 times and 6 times over 28nm planar process. Interface state density(Nit) improved by more than 40% and flicker noise characteristics also improved by 64% and 42% for NMOS and PMOS, respectively. Digital logic Transistor ion-ioff performance improved by by 32% and by 211% for NMOS and PMOS, respectively compared to 28nm planar device and the chip power consumption of digital logic functional block reduced by 34% in real Si of 12M pixel product. 14nm FinFET process expected to improve power consumption by 42% in 144M pixel density."