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Technology nodes from 10 µm to 2 nm

NODE SCALE

10 µm 2 nm

Selected: 3 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 · 3 nm

3 nm

With the 3 nm class, the technological paths of the major manufacturers diverge significantly for the first time – which is why this node can no longer be meaningfully described as a single, uniform technology, but only in terms of the individual manufacturers' designations.

Samsung (3GAE / 3GAP, “SF3”) became the first manufacturer worldwide to make the transition from FinFET to Gate-All-Around transistors at this node. The first generation (3GAE) entered mass production in June 2022, using Samsung's own GAA design, MBCFET (Multi-Bridge-Channel FET), which uses wider nanosheet channels instead of conventional nanowire approaches. The second, more mature generation (3GAP) followed in 2023/2024.

TSMC (N3 / N3E / N3P) continued to use FinFET transistors for its first 3 nm generation (N3, mass production starting at the end of 2022) and deliberately postponed the transition to GAA until the subsequent 2 nm node. N3 was used, among other products, in Apple's A17 Pro (iPhone 15 Pro). The improved N3E and N3P variants followed in 2023 and 2024 with higher yields and better energy efficiency, but also remained FinFET-based.

Intel (“Intel 3”) brought its own 3 nm class into mass production at the end of 2023, primarily for server processors (Xeon, codenames Sierra Forest/Granite Rapids). “Intel 3” is also still a FinFET generation – Intel's own transition to GAA (RibbonFET) did not take place until the subsequent 20A/18A node.

At this point, the names themselves have definitively become purely generational designations: neither at Samsung, TSMC nor Intel does “3” correspond to an actual physical dimension of three nanometers – comparisons are now made almost entirely in terms of transistor density, performance and energy efficiency relative to the respective previous generation.

Mass production

In June 2022, Samsung began the world's first mass production of a 3 nm node using Gate-All-Around transistors with 3GAE.

At the end of 2022, TSMC's N3 followed, initially still using FinFET transistors, including for Apple's A17 Pro.

At the end of 2023, Intel brought its own 3 nm class into mass production with “Intel 3”, primarily for server processors.