Work Begins For 45nm
By Ed Sperling -- Electronic News, 2/10/2004
MONTEREY, Calif.--Work has begun on 45 nanometer chips, and companies ranging from Texas Instruments to Intel to Xilinx say there is no indication that Moore's Law is getting derailed.
Julie England, vice president and business manager for the Sun Microsystems relationship at TI, said the industry remains on the same two-year cycle per process node.
"We're planning on a two-year pace for each node going forward," said England. "At 65 nanometers, it opens up a whole new opportunity for our customers. It changes how many processor cores you can put on a chip. We've already got DSL modems and cable modems on a chip."
She noted that the challenge is to extend CMOS at the same cost instead of moving to new materials. But most executives believe that is possible.
"Inside Intel we believe CMOS can go 10 or more years," said Edward So, VP and director of California technology and manufacturing at Intel. "We do not see the end of silicon."
In addition to investing in R&D and committing silicon for testing at 45 nm, most of the large IDMs also are working with companies on high-k gate materials, immersion lithography and metal gates. And with 90 nm expected to go to volume production this year, by 2008 45 nm technology should be in volume production.
Whether that really happens, however, is uncertain. Skeptics abound, because the transition to 90 nanometers proved more difficult than any previous generation. Finding new insulation materials and solving current leakage issues is still looming over chip designers, and so are rising costs of making the new chips.
In addition, chip company executives say that die sizes will reach 450mm by 2012, up from the current 300mm dies today. No one was willing to elaborate on that. |
