IBM's research facility in Albany, N.Y., is working toward the ability to build chip features based on 22-nanometer manufacturing technology--and drawing expertise from a diverse group of engineers and scientists.
East Fishkill IBM chip fab
(Credit: IBM)When future generations of chips reach feature sizes in the realm of a billionth of a meter, IBM says, it will take a global village of chip companies, including Advanced Micro Devices, Samsung, Singapore-based Chartered Semiconductor, and Germany-based Infineon, to carry out development and manufacturing.
Currently, IBM and its partners are in the initial stages of 45-nanometer production. (Intel is already in commercial production of 45-nanometer processors.) This will be followed by the 32-nanometer generation and then the 22-nanometer one. The latter presents special challenges because radically new manufacturing processes may be needed. The 22-nanometer generation of chips are expected reach the market in three to five years.
"We now have the capability to do full manufacture to 22 nanometer and beyond in a research facility," said Bernard Meyerson, an IBM fellow, vice president, and chief technologist in the Systems & Technology Group. This will allow IBM and its partners to build "bleeding edge" chip features very early in the process, Meyerson said.
Cooperation keeps members--like AMD and Chartered--competitive with a chip juggernaut like Intel. "We practice an ecosystem strategy. We behave and act as one team. It's not unusual to have an AMD team member leading one team...and Chartered to be leading another," he said. The basic formula is to bring the best and brightest to the United States and headquarter them at IBM's facilities at Yorktown, Fishkill, and Albany, Meyerson said.
In the more immediate future, IBM is also providing AMD (for a considerable fee, of course) with know-how for AMD's 45-nanometer generation of processors that were showcased at CeBit. These processors are due out in the second half of this year. AMD's chips use technologies such as immersion lithography and strained silicon, both developed jointly with IBM.
IBM added Hitachi to its list of collaborators on Monday when the two companies announced a two-year joint semiconductor research agreement in order to speed the pace of semiconductor innovation. The agreement marks the first time Hitachi and IBM have collaborated on semiconductor technology.
As expected, Dell is now offering Inspiron notebook PCs with the Intel Core 2 Duo "Penryn" chip as an optional configuration. This is the first time that Dell has included the 45-nanometer processor as an option in the consumer-oriented Inspiron line.
Dell Inspiron 1420
(Credit: Dell)An Inspiron 1720 with a T9300 (2.5GHz, 6MB cache) processor, 17-inch (1440x900) screen, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100, 2GB shared dual channel DDR2 memory, and a 250GB SATA hard drive (5400RPM) is priced at $1,299.
An Inspiron 1420 with a T8300 (2.4GHz, 3MB cache) processor, 14.1-inch (1280x900) screen, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100, 2GB shared dual channel DDR2 memory, and a 160GB SATA hard drive (5400RPM) is priced at $1,024.
For an extra $200, a 256MB Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT video card is available with the 1720. On the 1420, a 128MB Nvidia GeForce 8400M GS is available for an additional $100.
Launched last month, Intel's 45-nanometer mobile processors generally pack around 400 million transistors. One of the most salient features is the larger cache. The higher-end processors integrate 6MB of cache memory versus 4MB for the older 65-nanometer "Merom" generation, and the lower-end chips integrate 3MB vs. 2MB for the Merom-class processors. A larger cache generally means better performance.
SAN FRANCISCO--In 45 days, Intel will open its first high-volume facility for building chips that use a 45-nanometer manufacturing process.
A dime sits atop a wafer of processors built with Intel's 45-nanometer manufacturing process.
(Credit: Intel)The facility, called Fab 32, is a new one built in Chandler, Ariz., said spokesman Nick Knupffer, in an interview here at the VMworld conference. Most of Intel's current chips are built with a process that permits 65-nanometer circuitry elements, but the new 45-nanometer process will mean more circuits can fit on the same area of silicon wafer.
Intel currently builds 45-nanometer processors at its D1D facility in Oregon, but Fab 32 will be geared for high-volume manufacturing.
Intel rival Advanced Micro Devices has just begun its transition to 65-nanometer processors.
IBM's chip federation has grown again.
Switerland's STMicroelectronics will collaborate with IBM to develop manufacturing processes for the 32-nanometer and 22-nanometer generations of chips. 32-nanometer chips should start coming out in 2009 or 2010. (the number refers to the size of the average feature on the chip. A nanometer is a billionth of a meter.)
A whole cavalcade of companies--Advanced Micro Devices, Chartered, Infineon, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, Freescale-- already have existing semiconductor alliances with IBM and all of these alliances overlap and leverage each other in various ways. Under the ST-IBM alliance, researchers from each company will be transferred to the labs of the other.
The cooperation, ideally, will help spread the costs and risks in the chip industry. Designing a new process can cost hundreds of millions and a new chip can cost several millions to design.
Sometimes these alliances work, and sometimes they don't. ST, Philips and Freescale once cooperated on research and manufacturing in a plant in France; it has since been dissolved. AMD once had a far-ranging alliance with Taiwan's UMC that was dissolved before the first chips came out the door.
On the other hand, the Cell processor came out of the cooperation between Sony, IBM and Toshiba. IBM also helped AMD implement strained silicon in its chips.
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