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Technology Stocks : Applied Materials No-Politics Thread (AMAT) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: robert b furman who wrote (8353)	12/18/2003 9:04:10 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 25522

Semiconductor Roadmap Reverts to Pre-1990s Level By David Manners -- Electronics Weekly, 12/17/2003 The International Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) has slowed back to its traditional cycle of one node every three years. During the 1990s, it accelerated to deliver a new process generation every two years. "The ITRS roadmap has gone back to three years between nodes because of the slow ramp-up of 130nm processes," Theo Claasen, chief technology officer of Philips Semiconductors, told Electronics Weekly. "From 0.25-micron to 0.13-micron we moved fast, then we had to re-design the complete back-end," added Claasen. The big hurdles were the moves to copper and a low-k dielectric. Claasen does not expect the same problems at 90nm. "The back-end of the 90nm process is pretty much the back-end of our 120nm process," he said. However, according to Peter Tischer, vice-chairman for technologies at the MEDEA+ pan-European R&D program, many companies have slipped from their original 90nm timetable. "Many firms said they would deliver parts built on 90nm processes this year, but, although they have delivered samples, none has started volume production," said Tischer. He cited Philips Semiconductors, STMicroelectronics, Infineon, Motorola, TSMC, Intel, AMD, IBM, Texas Instruments, Toshiba and Samsung. "We're in-line with the ITRS roadmap," insisted Claasen. "We're pretty sure we'll have 90nm products qualified before the middle of next year and that we'll be in volume production at the end of the year." Claasen does not believe that EDA tools will prove to be an obstacle in moving to 90nm. "There are some new tools which have produced silicon from the original specification in six months with first-time-right results."