Overview
As transistors shrank, traditional 'planar' MOSFETs suffered from excessive current leakage. FinFETs solve this by wrapping the gate around a thin vertical 'fin' of semiconductor material.
Advantages
- Better Control: The gate surrounds the channel on three sides, providing much better control over the current flow.
- Reduced Leakage: Significantly reduces 'off-state' power consumption.
- Higher Performance: Allows for higher drive current in a smaller footprint.
Adoption
FinFETs became the industry standard starting at the 22nm node (Intel) and 16/14nm nodes (TSMC/Samsung), enabling the continuation of Moore's Law into the sub-10nm era.