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Intel to push 1-GHz barrier with 0.18-micron technology
By Will Wade
Semiconductor Business News
(01/22/99, 1:40 p.m. EDT)
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Intel Corp. will roll out its 0.18-micron process technology this year in microprocessors with clock speeds exceeding 600 MHz, but the technology could lead to powerful processors in the 1-gigahertz range by the end of next year. The company disclosed the road map for its latest manufacturing process at a technology briefing here Thursday (Jan. 21), and said its first 0.18-micron chips will be launched this summer.
"The Pentium III architecture will be able to go up the 800-MHz range with the current [0.18-micron] process, and with further process enhancements it will reach the 1-GHz range," said Sunlin Chou, vice president and general manager of the company's technology and manufacturing group.
The actual dimensions of the gates manufactured using the 0.18-micron process will be 0.13 micron. Mark Bohr, Intel fellow and director of process architecture and integration for the technology and manufacturing group, said this will make it easier to compare Intel's next manufacturing generation with that of its competitors.
Historically, Intel has rolled out a new manufacturing process generation every two years since 1989. The company's succeeding 0.13-micron process will likely follow the same schedule and arrive in 2001. Bohr said it would be used for Intel's first chips featuring copper interconnect technology.
The company will officially introduce its desktop Pentium III next month with speeds of 450 MHz and 500 MHz, but the first chip to utilize the 0.18-micron process will be the mobile Pentium III, with speeds in the 600-MHz range, which will be launched this summer. By the end of this year, both the mobile and desktop Pentium III chips should be closing in on 800 MHz.
Intel chips tend to improve their speed performance by about 50 percent per year, according to Nathan Brookwood, president of market research firm Insight 64. That puts the Pentium III on target to break the 1-GHz barrier by the end of 2000.
Despite the impressive manufacturing technology, Brookwood said the true test will come when the new chips hit the market. "The real issue is what products they deliver, and what their price and performance levels are," he said. "Let's see what they can make."
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