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UMC is planning to offer both a high-k/metal gate (HKMG) stack and a conventional, gate/silicon-oxy-nitride gate oxide technology for 28nm node devices. UMC claims that it has manufactured the foundry industry’s first fully functional 28nm SRAM chips using immersion double patterning lithography with a conventional gate and strained silicon technology, which will form the basis of its low-power process. The high-performance process will employ HKMG, the foundry said.

“UMC’s continued R&D commitment has helped us maintain our leadership position in nanometer technology over the years,” said S.C. Chien, Vice President of Advanced Technology Development at UMC. “We are excited about this latest achievement for 28nm, as it provides a solid starting point for further development of this technology node towards mainstream availability down the road. Improvements on areas such as minimum supply-voltage, modeling of strain effects, and natural yield will be our focus going forward.”

UMC plans to also provide foundry services for customized 32nm technologies based on its 28nm process platform. The 28nm six-transistor SRAM cell size was approximately 0.122 um2.