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Technology nodes from 10 µm to 2 nm

NODE SCALE

10 µm 2 nm

Selected: 2 nm
10 µm 3 µm 1,5 µm 1 µm 800 nm 600 nm 350 nm 250 nm 180 nm 130 nm 90 nm 65 nm 45 nm 32 nm 22 nm 16 nm 11 nm 7 nm 5 nm 3 nm 2 nm

Technology node · 2 nm

2 nm

With the 2 nm class, all three major manufacturers have now completed the transition from FinFET to Gate-All-Around transistors – although each uses its own name for the same basic architecture: horizontally stacked nanosheet channels in which the gate completely surrounds the channel.

TSMC (N2) entered mass production at the end of 2025 – TSMC's first node using nanosheet GAA transistors, following three generations of FinFET (N5, N4, N3). Compared with N3, TSMC promises around 10 to 15 % higher performance or 25 to 30 % lower power consumption at the same complexity.

Samsung (SF2) continues its own MBCFET technology from the 3 nm generation and further refines it for the 2 nm class – making Samsung the manufacturer with the longest mass-production experience in Gate-All-Around manufacturing to date.

Intel (20A / 18A) is making two technological transitions at once at this node: RibbonFET, Intel's own GAA architecture, replaces the FinFET architecture introduced in 2011, while PowerVia simultaneously moves power delivery to the backside of the chip for the first time instead of routing it through the same metal layers as the signal interconnects. The intermediate 20A step was skipped internally; actual mass production began directly with 18A in 2025, including for the Panther Lake notebook processor family. At the beginning of 2026, yields were still below the level required for profitability – evidence of how demanding the transition to GAA is even for an established manufacturer.

Notably, when interpreting the node names: according to the International Roadmap for Devices and Systems, a “2 nm node” corresponds to a gate pitch of around 45 nm and a minimum metal pitch of approximately 20 nm – not a single actual structure on the chip is really two nanometers in size. At this point, the number in the name has become completely detached from a physical measurement and serves purely as a generational designation.

Mass production

At the end of 2025, TSMC began mass production of N2, the first TSMC node using nanosheet Gate-All-Around transistors.

In 2025, Samsung continued its GAA manufacturing from the 3 nm generation with SF2.

In October 2025, Intel began mass production of 18A at its new Fab 52 facility in Arizona, using RibbonFET and PowerVia technology, including for the Panther Lake generation of notebook processors.

Despite the start of mass production, Intel 18A yields remained below the level required for profitable manufacturing at the beginning of 2026 – a large proportion of Intel's own high-end desktop processors (Nova Lake) are instead manufactured by TSMC using N2.