half-node

A process technology that reduces the size of the chip without redesigning the circuits to fit into the smaller area. Normally, when shrinking a chip to a smaller die size, some of the circuit design has to be reworked. The half-node is different because the fundamental architecture remains the same but only the real estate has been shrunk. For example, in 2008, Altera introduced an FPGA with a 40 nm half-node: 5 nm less than the standard 45 nm. This 11% reduction in size reduced power consumption. See process technology.

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The term half-node has fallen out of favor as the foundries and fabs have begun using other ways to designate these improvements.

Back in the early 2000s, the company began offering half-nodes that essentially split the typical "node" improvement in half.

Samsung Announces New 11nm Process, Targets EUV Ramp in 2018

A 65-nm process test chip and its half-node 55-nm version were used as proof of concept for yield learning.

The characterization results were compared between the 65-nm and half-node 55-nm test chip versions.