NEC to offer .18 and .15 micron ASICs. Everybody's doin' it -- they have to in order to stay in the ball game.........
techweb.cmp.com
<<In a decision that illustrates the dizzying pace of process
migration, NEC Corp. will move in tandem to 0.18-micron design rules for
low-power ASICs and to a 0.15-micron process for high-performance
designs with 400- to 500-MHz clock frequencies, according to Hirozaku
Hashimoto, NEC's vice president in charge of system-on-a-chip
development.
The company will accept designs in the respective linewidths this autumn,
and will have engineering samples available starting in October. The
processes will be announced by NEC on April 20 in Santa Clara, Calif.
"We have had two types of ASIC libraries - power-consumption-saving
cores, and another for high-performance parts," Hashimoto said. "This
year, we will use a 0.18-micron process for power-saving applications,
and a 0.15-micron library optimized for speed, for MPUs and for
networking customers,">>
<<SNIP>>
<<Both the 0.18- and 0.15-micron product lines will be made with the same
equipment set. For prototyping, NEC will use krypton fluoride
248-nanometer deep-ultraviolet steppers, but will adopt argon fluoride
(ArF) steppers later this year as they become available from Nikon, Canon
and other lithography vendors. NEC is one of several major Japanese
companies participating in the cooperative ArF lithography and
process-integration development program directed by the Association of
Super-Advanced Electronics Technology.>> |
