Globalfoundries, the world's third largest contract maker of semiconductors, said during its first Globalfoundries Technology Conference that the company was on track to start mass production using 20nm and 22nm process technologies in 2013. The timeframes are in line with its main rival Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, but are behind Intel Corp.

“From the very beginning our vision has been to be the technology leader in the foundry industry. We ramped to volume production at the 45/40nm generation well ahead of all foundries and we are poised to maintain this leadership at 32/28nm, with plans to extend this to the 22/20nm node," said Gregg Bartlett, senior vice president of technology and research and development at Globalfoundries.

The 20nm technology offerings will come in two varieties: a high performance (HP) technology designed for wired applications such as servers and media processors, and a 20nm super low power (SLP) technology designed for power-sensitive mobile applications. Globalfoundries will also have access to a 22nm super high performance (SHP) technology designed for devices requiring the utmost in performance, e.g. microprocessors of Advanced Micro Devices.

As implied by the company earlier this year, the 22/20nm technologies are planned to be a full node shrink from 32/28nm, and will utilize next-generation HKMG technology and strain engineering to enable the area and die cost scaling the industry has come to expect with each technology generation.

Test chip shuttles for customers will begin running in Fab 1 in the second half of 2011. The risk production of chips on the 20nm and 22nm nodes is projected to begin in the second half of 2012 and volume production will commence in 2013.

It is noteworthy that TSMC also promises to start volume production of chips using 20nm fabrication process in 2013, hence, the two foundries will be competing head to head. In fact, Globalfoundries will even have an advantage over the rival in the form of 28nm HPP process, which will enable it to build faster chips than the rival in 2012. However, Globalfoundries and consequently AMD will still be a year behind Intel Corp. with 22nm SHP process. Based on current expectations, Intel's first volume processors code-named Ivy Bridge manufactured using 22nm technology will be available around early 2012.

Tags: Globalfoundries, 20nm, 22nm, Semiconductor, AMD, , Intel, Ivy Bridge