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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices
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To: Amy J who wrote (107518)4/24/2000 10:39:00 AM
From: pgerassi  Read Replies (1) of 1573942
 
Dear Amy:

The answer is simple. To get a somewhat better process, different materials need to be used. Since these materials are generally not currently in high production, they tend to be more expensive. The easy increases have been already used. Now they must use more exotic materials and techniques, (read expensive). For an example, one of the things limiting performance is the capacitance between layers and at the MOSFET gates. Higher capacitance, requires more current and time to fill and empty. When you can get a lower capacitance, the speed increases. The easiest material, (and still most used), is Silicon Dioxide. You can get it by simply diffusing oxygen into the wafer. To use a different material, the silicon must be etched away and filled with the new material. This adds costs and some lower capacitance producing materials are quite expensive. Also a lower capacitance material allows the thicknesses to be reduced which is another way to increase speed.

Any of the posters who know the materials end, such as PB, could expand on this in further detail. Thus you can see how the same number of wafers, can cause a higher raw material cost when exotic materials and processes are used.

Pete
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