How Many BGA/MicroBGAs from AMKR through the Ramp-Up?
TI ramps volume shipment of 0.18-micron baseband IC for cellular phones
A service of Semiconductor Business News, CMP Media Inc.
Story posted 9 a.m. EST/6 a.m., PST, 3/17/99
DALLAS -- Texas Instruments Inc. here confirmed that it has begun shipping samples of a highly-integrated digital baseband processor for cellular phones using a new 0.18-micron CMOS process technology. The device contains a digital signal processor core, a RISC-based microcontroller, memory, analog functions and ASIC gates.
Earlier this month, TI executives told analysts that the company had developed the digital baseband processor using the 0.18-micron drawn-gate (0.15-micron L-effective) technology.
During the presentation, TI vice president Gilles Delfassy said the custom part had been shipped to Finland's Nokia Group, and that more than 2,000 processors could be produced on a single 8-inch wafer. The new baseband chip is expected to play a key role in TI's goal of shipping more than 160 million DSPs to wireless handset makers this year (see March 5 story).
In announcing the sampling of the baseband processor, TI managers declined to discuss Nokia's role in the development of the part, but they said the custom device was made on a standard dual-processor platform that includes a C54x DSP core and a RISC controller. Several of TI's major customers are expected to use the dual-processor baseband chip this year, and standard catalog DSP products will be launched in the second half of 1999 using the new process technology, said Bob Carl, marketing manager for the Americas in TI Wireless Communications Business Unit.
The 0.18-micron (0.15-micron L-effective) process results in 30-50% less power consumption, a potential performance gain of 20%, and cost savings from the integration of more functions on a die, said Peter Rickert, the development manager for the technology at TI's Kilby Center.
Inside the Kilby development center, TI is ramping up volume production of a new 8-inch wafer processing line. The facility's fab is expected to be operating at 5,000 wafer starts a month this year, and eventually the new process technology will be transferred to TI's volume production plants. "We will be shipping millions of these [digital baseband] chips this year from the Kilby facility," Rickert said.
The custom digital baseband IC is housed in a 144-lead ball-grid array (BGA) package. --J. Robert Lineback
204.247.196.31 |
