Intel后年升级65纳米芯片
作者： 西岸
责任编辑： 阚智
来源： 《电脑商情报》
时间： 2003-11-26 08:40
Intel Corp. (INTC) said Monday it has demonstrated a chip built with the next generation of manufacturing technology - 65-nanometer circuit design - which is expected for use in 2005.
The Santa Clara, Calif., chip maker said the development of the new tiny circuits renews its confidence that Moore's Law, which projects the steady improvement in chip performance, remains in place for at least another 10 years.
Intel also boasted that its creation of 65-nm circuits indicates it will be the first company in commercial production two years from now. "I think Intel is demonstrating a leadership position today," said scientist Mark Bohr, a senior fellow.
However, competitors were quick to play down the claim. "I think we're all marching to the same timeframe," said International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) spokesman William O'Leary. "I wouldn't say that puts them in the lead." IBM also anticipates 65-nm manufacturing by the later half of 2005.
Nevertheless, the 65-nm milestone is significant. A nanometer is a billionth of a meter, and 10 million 65-nm transistors can fit on the tip of a ball-point pen.
Bohr said that the company demonstrated the circuits on a memory chip, called an SRAM, an abbreviation for static random access memory, but that it will build computer microprocessors with the new technology. Each new generation of production equipment allows for chip speeds to increase 40% to 50% while gaining cost reductions from putting twice as many chips on a wafer of silicon.
The new technology is being developed by and will be deployed at Intel's Hillsboro, Ore., plant. The fab is the company's newest and has a manufacturing "clean room" the size of 3 1/2 football fields. About 70% of the production equipment Intel is using for its soon-to-be adopted 90-nm manufacturing is expected to be reused, Bohr said.
Analysts, however, said Intel could have difficulty keeping to its 2005 schedule for the new technology. The big chip maker tries to bring up a new generation of production technology every two years.
It adopted 130-nm production equipment in the second quarter of 2001, but has fallen behind with its 130-nm replacement. The company still hasn't got its 90-nm technology into commercial deployment more than two years later, said Kevin Krewell, a senior analyst at the research firm In-Stat/MDR.
Intel's first 90-nm chip, code named its Prescott, is expected this quarter. Krewell believes Prescott has been delayed due to the excessive leakage of electrical current, an increasing problem as chips get smaller and coatings of different metals and materials get thinner. As more power escapes, performance suffers.
Leakage "has been the fly in the ointment," he said. Intel can adopt a more advanced production technology, but it also must design clever chips to take advantage of it.
Bohr nevertheless said the 65-nm milestone suggests that "Intel continues to track Moore's Law with a new technology every two years." Moore's Law has correctly predicted for several decades that the number of transistors in a chip doubles every 18 months and performance increases.
"I find it very encouraging we are able to achieve these results as consistently as we have," he said of the company new production technologies. "I'm still encouraged Moore's Law has another 10 years left."
The Santa Clara, Calif., chip maker said the development of the new tiny circuits renews its confidence that Moore's Law, which projects the steady improvement in chip performance, remains in place for at least another 10 years.
Intel also boasted that its creation of 65-nm circuits indicates it will be the first company in commercial production two years from now. "I think Intel is demonstrating a leadership position today," said scientist Mark Bohr, a senior fellow.
However, competitors were quick to play down the claim. "I think we're all marching to the same timeframe," said International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) spokesman William O'Leary. "I wouldn't say that puts them in the lead." IBM also anticipates 65-nm manufacturing by the later half of 2005.
Nevertheless, the 65-nm milestone is significant. A nanometer is a billionth of a meter, and 10 million 65-nm transistors can fit on the tip of a ball-point pen.
Bohr said that the company demonstrated the circuits on a memory chip, called an SRAM, an abbreviation for static random access memory, but that it will build computer microprocessors with the new technology. Each new generation of production equipment allows for chip speeds to increase 40% to 50% while gaining cost reductions from putting twice as many chips on a wafer of silicon.
The new technology is being developed by and will be deployed at Intel's Hillsboro, Ore., plant. The fab is the company's newest and has a manufacturing "clean room" the size of 3 1/2 football fields. About 70% of the production equipment Intel is using for its soon-to-be adopted 90-nm manufacturing is expected to be reused, Bohr said.
Analysts, however, said Intel could have difficulty keeping to its 2005 schedule for the new technology. The big chip maker tries to bring up a new generation of production technology every two years.
It adopted 130-nm production equipment in the second quarter of 2001, but has fallen behind with its 130-nm replacement. The company still hasn't got its 90-nm technology into commercial deployment more than two years later, said Kevin Krewell, a senior analyst at the research firm In-Stat/MDR.
Intel's first 90-nm chip, code named its Prescott, is expected this quarter. Krewell believes Prescott has been delayed due to the excessive leakage of electrical current, an increasing problem as chips get smaller and coatings of different metals and materials get thinner. As more power escapes, performance suffers.
Leakage "has been the fly in the ointment," he said. Intel can adopt a more advanced production technology, but it also must design clever chips to take advantage of it.
Bohr nevertheless said the 65-nm milestone suggests that "Intel continues to track Moore's Law with a new technology every two years." Moore's Law has correctly predicted for several decades that the number of transistors in a chip doubles every 18 months and performance increases.
"I find it very encouraging we are able to achieve these results as consistently as we have," he said of the company new production technologies. "I'm still encouraged Moore's Law has another 10 years left."
