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Technology Stocks : All About Sun Microsystems -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Charles Tutt who wrote (47244)	2/5/2002 8:54:19 AM
From: alydar	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 64865

Sun have a PR on their take on the 0.09um stuff too (btw "0.09um" = "0.10um" in a way, the difference is more one of marketing - it's more of a label) news.cnet.com Sun Microsystems, Inc. enthusiastically greeted today's announcement by Texas Instruments (TI) presenting details of its 90 nanometer (0.09 micron) integrated circuit process technology. The new process contains numerous features that expand the design options available to Sun's UltraSPARC(R) processor design team. In addition to the ability to pack hundreds of millions more transistors into a processor die area, the process technology's unique tunable transistor technology, industry's highest density static random access memory (SRAM), nine-layer metal structure, and ultra-low-K dielectric materials enable Sun engineers to drive processor design in new directions as required by future generations of net effect computing. Sun also believes the new process' power dissipation characteristics will help Sun maintain its lead in delivering client-server microprocessors that deliver the industry's most favorable performance-per watt. David Yen, vice president and general manager of the Sun Processor Products Group said: "The new process technology from TI is the gateway to the UltraSPARC V processor generation as well as future versions of the UltraSPARC III and UltraSPARC IV processors. The 90 nanometer process' list of firsts and unique features validates TI's status as a semiconductor manufacturing leader. Best of all, this process -- as have all TI microprocessor processes developed since we partnered in 1988 -- has been created and co-defined by Sun and TI to meet design objectives of Sun's SPARC(R) processor products. This announcement places us well on the road for achieving our goals for Sun's next generation processor designs." TI 90 Nanometer Features and UltraSPARC Processor Design Benefits The TI 90 nanometer (nm) process offers many new and improved attributes that will help the UltraSPARC processor line deliver new sets of differentiating abilities and benefits to Sun customers when integrated into Sun's system products. First, the shrink from the current generation process' 130 nm geometry to 90 nm, combined with TI's record-setting 37 nm transistor, doubles the number of transistors, 400 million or more, that can be integrated into a microprocessor design. This creates expanded options for advanced design techniques such as on-chip multiprocessing, bigger cache memories and more scope to design in logic structures to support enhanced reliability, availability, scalability and security. btw, this 400m transistor count is probably more like what could be done in theory... (or is UltraSPARC-V projected to have 400m...? Wouldn't think so unless they integrated a awful lot of SRAM on-die...) The new process also features outstanding low-power operational characteristics, with a projected a 50 percent reduction in power consumption compared to the TI's current 130 nm process. This reduction should improve the energy efficiency of high-performance computing platforms, but it enables new directions in high-density, blade computing-oriented end product designs. With the latest SPEC benchmark numbers for the UltraSPARC III Cu 1050 processor, Sun has established a lead in "SPECs-per-Watt" energy efficiency and views this as an important competitive differentiator as the computer industry moves forward. TI's unique tunable transistor technology, which permits transistors with multiple threshold voltages and gate oxide thicknesses to be used in the same chip, give Sun processor designers outstanding ability to match transistor operating characteristics to meet specific performance goals at the on-chip subsystem level. For example, designers could use one transistor type for sections of an UltraSPARC processor requiring minimal latency and another for sections optimized for maximum data throughput. TI's high density SRAM technology also enables integration of larger on-chip cache memories that further boost the performance of microprocessors handling heavy duty computing workloads. TI's industry-leading 37 nm bulk silicon-based transistor technology also offers equivalent performance to silicon-on-insulator technology without added expense or technical risk of this new and unproven technology. Lateral Thinking in Processor Design The expanded design options afforded by the new TI process technology supports Sun's processor design philosophy. Sun believes that design processors for networked computing is about broadening the array of on-chip features to better support both instruction- and thread-level parallelism, system scalability, synergistic relationships with systems software, reliability, fault tolerance, computing density, and data and system security features, while achieving the lowest possible total cost of system ownership. Thread-level parallelism is running more than one thread/process on a chip, for example by having two (or more) CPU cores (like Power4, or UltraSPARC-IV) or running 2 (or more) threads through the same core - like "Hyperthreading" on the Pentium 4, more commonly called SMT (Simultaneous Multi-Threading) as planned for the UltraSPARC-V. Instruction level parallelism is about trying to run more instructions per cycle. In terms of the transistor budget afforded by the new 90 nanometer technology, Sun UltraSPARC processor designers will have a wider variety of options to build in differentiating features into future UltraSPARC processors. The bigger transistor budget also expand Sun's ability to target processor design points for system products ranging from the largest, ultra-mainframe class servers to cost-competitive desktops and server blades. This aligns with Sun's strategy of rolling out high, medium and low-end processor derivatives based on a instruction set architecture. The power efficiency gains in the new TI process also increases the UltraSPARC architecture's competitive edge over other workstation/server processor design. At the processor level, Sun can add new features and performance gains while moderating clock speed increases. At the system level, the new process clears the way to develop next-generation computing platforms that pack more computing power in to smaller physical spaces, cost less to operate and minimize consumption of scarce energy resources. Sun's processor design business model involves an intense focus on Sun's processor design core competence while leveraging the best efforts of world-class manufacturing and technology partners. On the design side, Sun's 1,300 member and growing processor design team is the second largest in the world and is backed by a technical infrastructure uniting the world's most advanced processor design tools running on a 5,500-CPU compute ranch infrastructure. Sun retains control of UltraSPARC intellectual property and can synchronize processor design with system and software development under Sun's "integratable hardware-software stack" strategy. For processor manufacturing, Sun outsources fabrication of leading edge products to Texas Instruments. Through this arrangement, Sun and TI work together to define process technologies used to make UltraSPARC processors. Sun accesses a source of high volume supply from TI's fabs without the need to expend capital and cover the operating expenses of a hypothetical Sun-owned fab. TI also benefits by transferring many advanced process technologies initially developed for Sun to its own product lines of DSP, wireless communications and application specific integrated circuit products. This unique arrangement, set up in 1988, has grown to become one of the most durable and successful technology partnerships in the computer industry, and a key factor to Sun's long term success in the technical and enterprise computing marketplace.