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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MikeyB who wrote (42542)	12/1/1998 7:47:00 PM
From: Tenchusatsu	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1573423

<is it because LI is a patented/proprietary technology and Intel isn't willing to pay for a license? Or does Intel just not see a need to implement LI since its current process is obviously successful?> I've been told that local interconnect (LI) isn't necessarily better or worse, just different. Why AMD pursued the LI route while Intel declined is beyond me. One reason could be that Intel is just so huge that implementing aggressive techniques like LI may be too risky, and the returns may not have justified the risk. Recall the production problems AMD had a year ago. I'm not saying that AMD's choice to pursue LI was solely responsible for their production problems, but I do bring this up as an example of what could have happened to Intel had they gone with a more aggressive philosophy. This could also be a reason why Intel isn't pursuing the copper technology publicized by IBM for their 0.18 micron process. Intel thinks the benefits of copper in the 0.18 micron process aren't good enough to justify the risks. We'll see sooner or later whether Intel made the right choice or not. Tenchusatsu

To: MikeyB who wrote (42542)	12/1/1998 8:10:00 PM
From: Yousef	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1573423

MikeyB, Re: "Does anyone know why Intel does not use local interconnect??" It is primarily due to avoiding the "risks" associated with LI. Here is a post that I wrote on LI --> Message 5270788 There are a couple of ways of doing LI ... The second one that I mention looks very much like a Metal 1 layer (dielectric/contacts/patterned metal). The advantage comes from using etch stops (like nitride) for the contact etch so that enclosures of contact by island and contact to poly spacing design rules can shrink. This is what gives a much smaller SRAM. On Copper Damascene --> Message 5232529 It not that clear that Copper Damascene at .18um buys any performance. The "risks" associated with using it far outweigh any gains. Make It So, Yousef