Good news from CUBE's foundry, TSMC...........
pubs.cmpnet.com
A service of Semiconductor Business News, CMP Media Inc.
Story posted at 3:30 p.m. EDT/12:30 p.m. PDT, 8/24/98
TSMC's 0.25-micron process
moves into volume at record pace
HSINCHU, Taiwan -- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. here
today said it 0.25-micron process has matured at a much faster rate than its
previous 0.35-micron technology with over 70% of the ICs passing
wafer-probe yield.
The silicon foundry was able to reach that level of yield in about six months
of volume production vs. nine to 12 months with the 0.35-micron
technology, said Ron Norris, president of TSMC's U.S. subsidiary. TSMC
announced in January that it was moving the quarter-micron process into
volume production after finishing development and characterization last year
(see Jan. 8 story).
Today, about 15 products are being made with the 0.25-micron technology,
including central processors, programmable logic, digital signal processors
(DSPs) and multimedia chips, TSMC said. An additional 30 designs are
slated to be taped out for production in the next four months, and more than
100 customers are using quarter-micron design libraries from TSMC's 14
library partners, said the foundry company.
While it continues to ramp up the quarter-micron technology, TSMC is also
preparing to tape out the first devices to be fabricated in its 0.18-micron
process, which is slated to be released for production late in the first quarter
of 1999, Norris said.
Meanwhile, TSMC is preparing to offer a range of 0.25-micron processes
targeted at specific design needs. A new low-power 0.25-micron derivative
will be offered by the end of the year. It will produce transistors operating on
1.8 volts. Two versions of a 10% shrink of the quarter-micron technology
are also in the works for low power and higher performance. TSMC is also
receiving customer designs for an embedded DRAM technology,
In the competitive silicon foundry business, pressure is increasing on
suppliers to do more than offer leading edge technology, Norris said.
"Technology leadership alone is no longer a differentiator, and that's a little
frustrating," he said. "The key is being able to ramp up at high yields
quickly."
To get new processes into production quickly, TSMC first works closely
with a few of its strategic customers--called technology partners. "Being a
foundry, we really cannot fully ring out a production process without having
a 'product partner,'" Norris explained. "We run a lot of test wafers but you
need products too."
In 1999, TSMC anticipates that about 20-25% of its fab capacity will be
running 0.25-micron processes, with at least another 40% using the
0.35-micron technology, Norris said. TSMC's 0.25-micron capacity is now
ramping up to 15,000 wafers per month by the end of this year.
--J. Robert Lineback |
