Semiconductor industry and market

Which correctly describes chips made on so-called mature (legacy) processes older than the 28 nm generation?

  1. AThey are no longer used at all
  2. BThey are used only in the latest smartphone CPUs
  3. CThey are still used in huge volumes in microcontrollers, power devices, analog chips, sensors and the like, and are essential to cars and industrial equipment
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Answer: C. They are still used in huge volumes in microcontrollers, power devices, analog chips, sensors and the like, and are essential to cars and industrial equipment

Only some products, such as CPUs and GPUs, need leading-edge scaling; many microcontrollers, power management ICs, analog chips, power devices and sensors are made on mature processes for reasons of cost, reliability and high-voltage capability. They are used in huge volumes in cars, industrial equipment and appliances, and their supply also became a problem during the chip shortage.

  • A. Mature-process products are still used in huge volumes.
  • B. The latest smartphone CPUs are made on leading-edge processes.
  • C. Correct. They are an important product group supporting many kinds of equipment.
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More Semiconductor industry and market questions

  1. Which set correctly names major semiconductor manufacturing equipment makers?
  2. Which business model keeps fab investment down by making some products in its own fabs while outsourcing leading-edge products and the like to foundries?
  3. Which correctly describes the book-to-bill (BB) ratio, used as an indicator of the semiconductor equipment market?
  4. In semiconductor and other manufacturing, what is the tendency called for the cost per unit to fall by a fixed percentage each time cumulative production doubles?
  5. For leading-edge logic chips, which is closest to the typical time from starting a wafer on the production line to completing the front-end process?