I thought this was an interesting article because iit talks aboout the actual number of die increased by shrinking the line widths. Pretty impressive.
Regards, Mark
Process Pedal to the Metal
Having just finished converting all production to 0.25-micron, Intel Corp. is moving rapidly to the next die shrink. The company told last week's NationsBanc Montgomery Securities conference that it expects to reach volume with its 0.18-micron process by the second half of this year, and convert virtually all its production to that process by the end of next year. The company is also rumored to be close to announcing plans for a 300mm fab in Oregon. At that same conference, Micron Technology disclosed that it had achieved first silicon on its 0.21-micron process at the fabs in Italy and Japan it acquired from Texas Instruments, and expected to reach that milestone this month at the former TI fab in Singapore. All three were slightly ahead of schedule as Micron tries to bring the TI factories up to parity with its other fabs. The company currently has about 5 percent of its total production on 0.18-micron, and hopes to have 30 percent of its starts at that point by this summer. The difference is considerable: for the 64-meg DRAM, a wafer can hold about 280 gross die at 0.25-micron, about 500 die at 0.21-micron, and about 760 die at 0.18-micron, the company said. Micron also responded to continued demand for 16-meg parts by shrinking those parts to 0.21-micron, boosting output from 980 to 1,700 die per wafer. |
