This makes it official
biz.yahoo.com
Tuesday September 30 6:02 AM EDT
Company Press Release
New Dual Inlaid Copper Interconnect Technology Announced by Motorola
Process will Offer Significant IC Performance Gains
AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 30, 1997--Motorola publicly disclosed today that it has developed a revolutionary new integrated circuit process incorporating copper interconnects to replace aluminum wiring in integrated circuits.
The technique, which will result in smaller faster chips with improved reliability, was originally announced to a select group of industry financial analysts and media representatives at the company's bi-annual HORIZONS technical briefing in Orlando, Florida in early September.
``This new capability will help us take the technology industry to the next level,'' said Hector Ruiz, SPS president. ``These chips will not only make your computer faster, they will bring high-end computing power into places it has never been before, like PDAs, cellular phones and a new range of products that haven't been invented yet. Copper-based chips will be a key building block for our customers' success in the future, providing new product and market opportunities.''
Called a dual-inlaid metallization technique, the process takes advantage of copper's inherent higher conductivity than aluminum which allows for smaller, thinner interconnects as well as its greater resistance to electro-migration. This makes possible smaller, faster IC chips with greater reliability.
``Copper metallization is a key enabling technology for Motorola,'' said Fabio Pintchovski, director of the Advanced Product Research and Development Laboratory (APRDL). ``This will provide the paradigm shift needed to get beyond the technology limitations we are reaching with aluminum.''
Pintchovski noted that the program had been in development at Motorola for the past 2-1/2 years in their R&D laboratories. Motorola will present a pivotal paper describing further technical details of this advanced process at the globally prominent International Electronic Devices Meeting (IEDM) in December. The company has a large body of patent applications pending or granted on copper technology advances, according to Pintchovski.
The Motorola process incorporates six layers of planarized copper interconnects in a 0.20 micron CMOS logic technology capable of high performance, using a 1.8 V supply voltage. Effective channel lengths are estimated in the 0.15 micron range or lower.
``To put this in perspective, this process translates into chips with the capability of 50 to 100 million devices on a chip,'' said Pintchovski.
Samples of the first product using the copper interconnect technology are scheduled for introduction in the summer of 1998 with production ramp planned in September '98.
With 1996 worldwide sale of $7.9 billion, Motorola's Semiconductor Products Sector is committed to enabling its customers' success by providing systems solutions, processes and services to anticipate and respond to changing technologies and market dynamics. As the largest U.S.-based, broad-line semiconductor supplier, the Sector delivers global resources, product design and development expertise and the highest-quality technology solution to its customers.
Motorola semiconductors power automobiles, communications and computing systems, and millions of other consumer products.
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Contact:
Motorola Media Relations
Chuck Granieri, 602/952-3601
or
Cunningham Communication Inc.
Andrew McCarthy, 650/858-3735 |
