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For those of us unfamiliar with the numbers, what do typical yields look like on silicon wafers?



It really varies.

Samsung 3nm had a yield rate well below 20% back in early 2022, and that's not unheard of while still in the development phase. To be economically viable the yield rates have to be around 80%, so mature nodes can be expected to be in that ballpark.


50–97% with 90% considered “good.”


It's also worth contextualizing percentages. 90% still means 1 in every 10 parts fails.


It's not always outright failure, but rather different performance binning.


But the performance binning is a direct result of careful design that goes out of its way to ensure that a subset of failures can still lead to a workable/binnable products.

It's still a failure to produce a part that matches the full design.




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