Paul, Re: " Intel's 0.18 Micron Products for 1999 are Revealed"
Thanks for the article, but the one part of it I have to comment on is about AMD:
Re: "AMD on Monday said it will reach 1GHz in the first half of 2000 with copper
technology obtained through a cross-licensing deal with Motorola Semiconductor
Products Sector."
Man, talk about pulling a schedule out of your A**! AMD hasn't built chip one with copper yet, at any freaking clock speed, and yet they come out with a prediction of when they'll have a chip 3X as fast as anything they have today! Talk about brass ba!!s Or is it Hail Mary time for them?
Some time ago, an article came through here about CPU chips, chipsets and motherboards being designed to run at 700 MHz (I think you posted it). Anyway, the stated electrical disciplines and design methodologies that were being factored into the design were transmission line theory, including determining and matching characteristic impedances, controlling stubs and reflections, cluster rules, using lattice diagrams, etc. (pardon the EE gobbledygook). I was impressed, as attention to these kinds of things is just one part of the whole new ballgame that must be factored into design at these incredible speeds. Gee, I wonder if AMD has this kind of simulation and design factored into their schedule. Sure. I think Motorola said 1H2000, and AMD said, OK, that's it, announce!!! Well, I don't care if it's aluminum, copper, platinum, or gold interconnect, you still have to do the right kinds of circuit simulation and design, and tons of it, to stand a chance of making it work at that frequency. I know, I'm preaching to the choir here, consisting of you, Yousef, Jeff, Elmer, et al.
I'll never cease to be amazed at the promises some companies make for delivery of product, when it's dollars to donuts they haven't done even the most basic research they'd have to go through to get there. I guess I shouldn't, knowing it's AMD again.
Tony
|
