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Technology Stocks : Intel Corporation (INTC) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Elmer who wrote (145915)	10/23/2001 2:53:36 PM
From: fingolfen	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 186894

Sorry, I was unclear, what do you expect from AMD in regards to channel lengths and gate oxides on their .13u process? I have reason to believe AMD is not too far off these dimensions you quoted already for both channel lengths and GOs. If so then there's little pop in store going to a full .13u process. I've seen one press release claiming that AMD will go for 50nm lengths. I think that's BS. I don't see them getting much better than 70nm without moving over to 193nm, and I don't think the support infrastructure will support volume production of 193nm at this point (steppers, lasers, and resist). I think AMD will be stuck in the 60-65nm range at the very best. Gate oxide is a good question. 15A is really thin, and that's where Intel is now. Intel has also generally run with a much thinner oxide than anyone else. I don't see AMD running at less than 15A for 0.13 micron. Bottom line is if AMD is already running close to 70nm gates and near 15A oxides, they aren't going to get much (if anything) from a 0.13 micron bulk process. They're going to get some interconnect boost, but that will only help if their parts are heavily interconnect limited. In short, AMD will need SOI to get any performance boost from 0.13 micron. It's also unclear whether or not it will actually give them enough of a boost (it obviously doesn't help Intel's current transistor design enough to make it economically viable). AMD is also going to take a hit on their margins and costs, so their ASP has to go up dramatically or they're not ever going to be profitable.