Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Vitesse Semiconductor -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Czechsinthemail who wrote (1632)	9/18/1998 2:39:00 PM
From: Hyperpy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4710

Issue with gas is not only the $$, It consumes a lot more power (extar fans to keep them cool) and needs extra component on a system to support it (pull up termination. It also needs funny power lines ,-5V or 1.2, and they have no migration path, since the signals are larger than other available technologies. I am sorry to get so technical here , but most VTSS customers will someday learn that CMOS will do the same thing with lower $$ , lower power consumption, no extra power lines, no components to support it..... But mean while VTSS will enjoy a good ride, since once you are designed in these systems (datacom/telcom) , you stay in there for 5 yrs. at least 5 yrs. or so

To: Czechsinthemail who wrote (1632)	9/18/1998 3:26:00 PM
From: John Finley	Respond to of 4710

Re: "What is your sense of how line shrinkage and copper technology are improving the cost/performance ratio of silicon relative to GaAs? " Good questions. I don't know the answers but I do know that copper poisons Si readily. I don't know about GaAs. The copper contamination issue was a major roadblock to using it as an interconnect. I'm not sure how IBM got around that problem. JF

To: Czechsinthemail who wrote (1632)	9/18/1998 3:36:00 PM
From: Sun Tzu	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4710

The last bit of Silicon that I designed was in '91 and I've only kept up with the technology as "general" interest since then. So my info is not as complete as it should be. Still, if GaAs does not come up with substantial improvements in the next 3 years, I'll write them up. One of the big problems with GaAs is integrating it with Si components. It is like trying to fit a square in a circle; you need a lot of auxilary components to make it fit. What is more, silicon's prevalence means that most of the research budgets world wide is dedicated to improving Si. This has led to a number of technology leaps in recent years. IBM's copper process is just one of them. Others include TI's "super transistor" (which is at least an order of magnitude faster than the current generation) and (I can't remember who's) lithography advances. These changes will prevent GaAs to move to main stream unless some research lab comes up with an equivalent progress for GaAs to keep the cost / benefit spread between GaAs and Si the same (or push it in GaAs's favour). I am not aware of such works in progress, but then again I have not been looking for it either. Sun Tzu