Samsung shows off refinements to 14-nm and 10-nm process nodes

As process nodes become smaller and smaller, chip manufacturers have to work harder to squeeze performance and power savings out of each step. To wit, Intel's recently changed from its familiar "tick-tock" cadence of alternating die-shrinks and architecture updates to a three-step "process-architecture-optimaztion" model. Likewise, Samsung's fabrication arm recently presented the latest revisions of its 10-nm and 14-nm process nodes to its manufacturing partners at its Device Solutions America headquarters.

Samsung showed off the latest version of its 14-nm process, the company's fourth generation at that node size. The new fabrication technology, dubbed 14LPU, ...