TSMC, CUBE's foundry, has advanced process technology................
A service of Semiconductor Business News, CMP Media Inc.
Story posted at 10:30 a.m. EST/7:30 a.m. PST, 1/8/98
TSMC in production with 0.25-micron wafers
HSINCHU, Taiwan -- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. said
today that it marked the end of 1997 by shipping production 0.25-micron
wafers for a high-performance logic product. The chip was the first in an
anticipated 10 products scheduled for 0.25-micron production in the first
quarter of 1998.
TSMC said it was the first foundry to commercialize 0.25-micron process
technology, which economically accommodates 300-MHz system-on-chip
products with up to 10 million transistors. TSMC is ramping this technology
in three fabs, expecting to reach a capacity of 15,000 8-inch wafers per
month in 1998 and much more in 1999.
"In parallel, we are developing process options for mixed-signal,
high-density embedded SRAM and embedded 1-T DRAM functions," said
Ron Norris, president of TSMC USA. These process variations can be
expected in the second quarter and second half of the year, he said; they will
be 100% design compatible with the baseline logic process to allow full
design reuse.
TSMC's 0.25-micron logic process offers one poly layer, five metal layers,
and borderless contact design rules, resulting in almost double the density of
0.35-micron technology. Dual gate oxides provide for 2.5- or 3.3-volt
operating voltages with 5-V tolerance. To facilitate design reuse, the
0.25-micron process allows shrinks from 0.5-micron and 0.35-micron
processes and has a built in shrink path to the 0.18-micron technology that
will be introduced in 1999.
To accelerate customers' time-to-market, TSMC is providing baseline
design intellectual property with silicon-verified, process-optimized libraries
of core cells and memories. These libraries will be expanded, in partnership
with select IP vendors, to include specialized functions.
WaferTech, the company's U.S. joint venture in Camas, Wash., will begin
ramping to production in July 1998. In July 1997, TSMC broke ground on
Fab 6, the first of 5 new fabs in Taiwan. Fab 6 will start production in 1999
and build to a capacity of 60,000 8-inch wafers per month. Subsequent fabs
in Taiwan will be 12-inch (300-mm) lines, the company said. TSMC's
0.18-micron production schedule calls for work with several undisclosed
partners for earliest production beginning in the second quarter of 1999. |
