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Comment by pxeger1 | Hacker News Reader

> Gina Raimondo said the plant will make “high-value chips” that are currently not made in the United States. The 300-millimeter chips are essential for national security [...]

300mm? What dimension is this measuring? I would expect feature size to be 300nm, but 30nm or 3nm is surely more likely.

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> What dimension is this measuring?

Twenty bucks says wafer size, since 300 mm wafers are standard.

Edit: Also, here's the press release for the announcement:

https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2024/02/biden-harris-a...

That’s a shorthand for modern processes. Older process technology was made before 300mm wafers were standard, and retrofitting old processes to use larger wafers is generally considered to be not worth the cost since all the tooling is depreciated and paid for in 200mm or smaller wafers.

Anything made today from the ground up would use 300mm wafers, though. Even slightly older process nodes (55nm, for instance).

This is talking about pre-diced wafer diameter.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wafer_(electronics)

Certainly not the transistor size unless they’ve invented some new Gate All Around Ingot technology, hahaha.

I suspect they mean wafer size, 300mm is a common wafer size.

300mm is the new wafer standard.

200mm was the standard a few years ago.

I was in the industry for a decade and never saw 200mm

200mm was also called 8-inch wafers.

I think you’re missing my point. I have since come and gone from a decade-long career in semiconductors, and it’s always been 300mm for logic. 200mm is early 2010s at the latest

I'm under the impression that USAs lines are mostly 200mm though. It's not like anyone throws away a fab line just because a better one was made elsewhere.

I swear I read an article about new 200mm lines being setup somewhere. Demand keeps growing even for older lines.

I guess to your point is that 300mm is the standard for any top-end line in the past decade? Which is good info for sure.

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