Elmer & Intel Investors - Intel To Introduce 0.18 Micron Flash Process - with Embedded Logic Capability - by mid 2000.
Look for Intel's Flash Memory to appear with integrated logic chips in cell phones, etc..
Intel pushes flash-memory lines to 0.18-micron process
However, Intel claims to have narrowed that gap to just a year by fine-tuning its Copy Exactly technique and building in common ground between the two processes. According to Sackman, Intel's logic and flash-memory processes now use about 90% of the same manufacturing equipment and 80% of the same “recipe.”
“The thing that's interesting about Intel is that I think they are a year ahead of everyone else in terms of a 0.18-micron process,” said Alan Niebel, an analyst with Semico Research Corp. in Monterey, Calif.
Beginning in the first quarter, the Oregon facility will begin making flash using a 0.25-micron feature size, and will shift to 0.18-micron line widths in mid-2000. By 2001, the move will enable Intel to roughly quadruple its 1999 flash output, which is expected to reach 400 million Mbytes, the company said. What's more the chips will maintain a sub-60-ns first-access speed at 1.8 V, according to Sackman.
Paul
{============================}
Intel pushes flash-memory lines to 0.18-micron process
By Andrew MacLellan, Electronic Buyers' News
Dec 2, 1999 (2:13 PM)
URL: ebnews.com
Pulling in the lag time between its logic- and memory-manufacturing processes, Intel Corp. is advancing its flash-memory line to a 0.18-micron feature size and will begin volume production using the finer line width by mid-2000. The company last week said its migration from a 0.25-micron geometry is proceeding as planned and will be manifested first at its Fab 15 facility in Aloha, Ore., which is now used to make microprocessors and core-logic chipsets.
The move is in keeping with Intel's efforts to decrease the cost-per-Mbit of flash memory by about 30% annually, a track similarly followed by commodity DRAM. With the tighter process, the company expects to offer roughly 2.5 times the number of flash chips currently yielded on an 8-in. wafer manufactured using a 0.25-micron geometry.
The finer line widths will enable Intel to add new features to its flash chips while advancing its multi-level-cell StrataFlash family and offering embedded logic/flash devices, according to Shawn Sackman, product marketing manager for Intel's Flash Products Division in Folsom, Calif.
Intel said its 0.18-micron flash process is more than 12 months ahead of competitors and will yield 64-Mbit NOR-based devices next year that will fit in the same die area as rivals' 32-Mbit chips.
“I firmly believe that if you don't have a 0.18-micron feature size in your sights for 2000, you can do nothing but lose market share,” Sackman said.
Using what it calls its Copy Exactly methodology, Intel's logic products-particularly microprocessors-have been used as the cornerstone of each successive manufacturing process generation. Once perfected, each new process is then applied to Intel's flash-memory program-typically about three years after it has yielded the first logic devices.
However, Intel claims to have narrowed that gap to just a year by fine-tuning its Copy Exactly technique and building in common ground between the two processes. According to Sackman, Intel's logic and flash-memory processes now use about 90% of the same manufacturing equipment and 80% of the same “recipe.”
“The thing that's interesting about Intel is that I think they are a year ahead of everyone else in terms of a 0.18-micron process,” said Alan Niebel, an analyst with Semico Research Corp. in Monterey, Calif.
Beginning in the first quarter, the Oregon facility will begin making flash using a 0.25-micron feature size, and will shift to 0.18-micron line widths in mid-2000. By 2001, the move will enable Intel to roughly quadruple its 1999 flash output, which is expected to reach 400 million Mbytes, the company said. What's more the chips will maintain a sub-60-ns first-access speed at 1.8 V, according to Sackman.
“A 1.8-V device at 0.18 microns running at 60 ns is pretty impressive,” Niebel said. “You're at the cutting edge in terms of voltage, speed, and process technology.”
At a time of industry shortage, the added flash capacity will be quickly absorbed by the market, particularly cell-phone makers, which will try to fulfill demand for 500 million handsets in 2000, according to Intel estimates. Demand from applications like cell phones and MP3 audio players will drive flash shipments from 11.4 billion Mbits this year to 34.1 billion Mbits in 2000, according to Semico, which expects the market to generate about $6.2 billion in revenue next year.
As it ramps production at Fab 15, Intel's Fab 11 facility in Albuquerque, N.M., which came online earlier this year at 0.25 microns, will transition to 0.18-micron line widths sometime in mid-2000. Intel's Fab 7 and 9 flash plants will retain their 0.4-micron geometry for the foreseeable future, according to the company. |
