Re: SOI, it seems that IBM claims to be making better quality SOI than is commercially available. (Yes, they're making their own substrates from prime silicon.) They claim, in fact, that their SOI has double the yield of "standard" SOI wafers. That's a HUGE difference, since SOI is extremely expensive to begin with, and poor yields would make the cost /chip worse. (That's why no one else has done it yet.)
news.semiconductoronline.com
Unless MIPS, or a foundry, is able to invest IBM-level money in duplicating IBM's process development, it might take them a while to catch up.
On the other hand, IBM doesn't want to be in the wafer business, so might be willing to give up some potential competitive advantage in order to help a second source for wafers meet their specs.
Katherine |
