SMIC's 55nm BCD platform has made breakthroughs, TSMC is no longer the only choice

At present, due to the supply restrictions on the supply of EUV optical carvings, the most advanced chip foundry solution in the Mainland is the 14nm process provided by SMIC. Can't get a breakthrough in time.

As a result, many companies have begun to lay out photoelectric chips and chip superimposed technology. By innovating the technology of chip manufacturing, to achieve curve overtaking, get rid of the impact of external relevant rules, and produce high -performance chip products.

In such a situation, SMIC successfully made a breakthrough in the BCD platform field. According to SMIC's news: SMIC has completed the first stage of research and development of the 55nm BCD platform and entered a small batch trial production stage.

Seeing this news, many people may have questions, what is 55nm BCD? What is the difference between it and the 4nm, 7nm of Samsung we often hear, Samsung's 4nm, and 7nm?

In fact, although SMIC's BCD process is 55nm, it seems that there are many generations that are different from TSMC and Samsung's 4nm, but in fact, their technical levels and application areas are different.

First of all, in terms of technical level, BCD (BIPOL-CMOS-DMOS) refers to a single-piece integrated process, and the 55nm mentioned here is not a conventional 55nm chip, but a device that can use three different meta-device devices The technology integrated on a chip. The technology was successfully developed by ST intentional semiconductor and was widely used in power management chips. It has developed to the tenth generation, but the process is only 90nm. The BCD platform has developed multiple versions, and Samsung and TSMC are also using the 65nm BCD platform to produce chips for their customers. So SMIC 55nm BCD is the world's leading lead.

Secondly, from the perspective of the application field, 4nm and 7nm advanced processes are mainly used in mobile phones, PC and other products. The BCD platform belongs to a special technology technology platform, which is widely used in the fields of automotive, medical, and industrial automation. Different from the high performance and low power consumption required by conventional mobile phones and PC chips, chips used in automotive, medical, and industrial industries must be much higher than advanced process processes such as 7nm and 4nm. This also means that SMIC has done the right development of BCD platform technology.

In 2022, the number of shipments in the global smartphone market dropped sharply, and the demand for mobile phone chips began to slow down. Apple, Qualcomm and other chip developers have "cut orders". Instead, cars and industrial chips with mature process technology have begun to occur, and there have been shortage of stocks and price increases. Of course, the 7nm and 4nm processes are advanced, but the current application market is relatively narrow.

Nowadays, SMIC seems to have found a development route that suits you, starting from the mature process technology, and gradually realizing the comprehensive pursuit of chip foundry technology.