Part of TSMC’s 12 and 16nm chips unusable due to poor quality photoresist

TSMC is experiencing yield problems in its chip production because it received a quantity of photoresist from its supplier that was of poor quality. It concerns the 12nm and 16nm chip production that, among others, Nvidia, MediaTek and HiSilicon use.

Yield problems arose at TSMC’s Fab 14B in Tainan, Taiwan. According to TSMC, it received a batch of photoresist from a supplier the company has been working with for years, but it was of “significantly lower quality than previous deliveries.”

According to reports in Taiwanese media, including Business Next, more than 10,000 wafers have been affected. However, some of the chips produced would still be usable. TSMC has stopped the production in question and has informed its customers of the production problems, without specifying which customers are involved. Nvidia, MediaTek and HiSilicon, among others, are customers of the production of Fab 14B.

The costs associated with the problems are no reason for TSMC to adjust its revenue forecast, DigiTimes writes. TSMC gets its photoresist supplied by the Japanese companies Shin-Etsu, JSR and Dow Chemical. The photoresist provides the photosensitive layer to be applied to wafers for exposure in the lithographic process to make chips.