Elmer - Re: "Just how great can it be if IBM needs it just
to catch up with "old" technology?"
It's worse than you think !
Not only is IBM switching to copper, they also HAVE TO USE COPPER - 6 friggin' layers of it - on a 0.18 micron process - JUST TO GET 400 MHz speed devices - "and lower".
Thus, IBM is leap frogging Intel in fab complexity - just to CATCH UP in device performance! That makes a statement about how powerful Intel's 0.25 micron process - with only 5 layers of aluminum.
You can read about it below:
Paul
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BM copper chip due for Macs
By Michael Kanellos
Staff Writer, CNET NEWS.COM
July 21, 1998, 12:55 p.m. PT
URL: news.com
IBM's chance for chip greatness will come later this summer with the release
of its first copper-based PowerPC microprocessors, intended for Apple
Computer's Macintosh systems.
IBM's microprocessor operations often go unnoticed due to the large shadow
cast by chip behemoth Intel, but the release of the copper processor will
highlight Big Blue's long-established manufacturing prowess as well as its
efforts to take the lead in one of the most critical new chip technologies for
the next decade.
IBM's first copper processors, which are code-named Lone Star and use
copper wire rather than aluminum to connect transistors, will run at speeds of
400 MHz and lower, according to sources close to IBM. Versions running at
333 MHz and 366 MHz are expected to be available at the same time, which
is probably not later than September.
The initial products will be targeted at the Macintosh market and found in
Apple computers and Mac upgrade cards. Samples have already been
shipped to IBM partners.
While the first versions of the chip will only slightly boost performance over
current aluminum microprocessors, future copper processors are expected
to reach speeds up to 1 GHz (1,000 MHz).
Sources at IBM have said that copper chips will be commercially available in
the summer, but various analysts have said that the debut may be more like a
trial release. That is, chips will be available, but perhaps not too many of
them.
Beyond the shift in metals, IBM will use a 0.18-micron manufacturing process
to produce these chips, a more advanced technique than Intel currently uses
on its production lines.
"That's not surprising," said Dean McCarron, principal analyst at Mercury
Research. "They [IBM] tend to have the technology leadership."
1998 has been a busy one for IBM Microelectronics. Since the beginning of
the year, IBM has signed manufacturing deals with several Intel clone chip
vendors, in what many have called an effort to stake out a
stronger presence in that market. (Its deal with AMD, however, was recently
postponed.)
IBM has also led the charge toward using copper, which conducts better than
aluminum and is expected to lead to faster, more efficient microprocessors.
The PowerPC chips will be followed by copper-based,
custom-made ASICs (applications specific intergrated circuit) chips. IBM is
working with approximately ten other companies to develop ASICs,
according to an IBM spokesman.
In all likelihood, copper chips based around the Intel architecture will follow.
To IBM, the 0.18-micron process and copper technology are synonymous,
said the spokesman. IBM has no current plans to make aluminum chips on
the 0.18-micron process technology; however, since most chip vendors plan
to move their x86 chips from the 0.25 to the 0.18 micron processes next year,
copper chips based around the Intel architecture will surely come.
Yesterday, AMD and Motorola announced they would collaborate on making
copper chips. But IBM maintains that it holds a substantial lead in this field.
"We believe we have a six-month to year lead on everyone," said the IBM
spokesman.
The shift to copper will only result in an incremental improvement in the
0.18-micron generation of chips, according to Nathan Brookwood,
semiconductor analyst for Dataquest. Most of the improvements the physical
properties of copper can bring will come with the subsequent 0.13-micron
manufacturing process, as still smaller transistors will better synchronize with
the higher speed interconnections.
"You really need 0.13.," he said. "It's like city traffic with traffic lights on every
corner. With 0.18, you get to the traffic light a lot faster, but you spend a lot
more time waiting at the light. When you get to 0.13, the traffic lights start
getting shorter."
McCarron, among others, agreed that the first generation of copper chips at
0.18 microns functions more as a starting place than a point for comparing
performance. He added that copper will add performance as processors
approach and exceed 600 MHz.
Intel for the moment is not scrambling toward copper, according to Linley
Gwennap, editor in chief of The Microprocessor Report. While Intel is
undoubtedly performing research on copper interconnect circuitry, the
company appears to be concentrating more on low capacitance "di-electric"
technology, which improves the
performance of the materials surrounding the circuits, rather than the circuits
themselves. Essentially, capacity is reduced between the layers in a chip.
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