Quote:
Originally posted by imiloa
re: twice the issues at 45nm, no doubt it will be a bigger challenge than 90nm was. but hopefully their decision to partner with toppan indicates toppan has some insight/tricks that will smooth the evolution.
re: scrapping 90nm, i hope not. 65nm will no doubt be another nightmare of delays. apple needs faster chips this year, not in 2007. from the rumors, it sounds like the 970mp/gx are nearing production. i would hope they'd at least stabilize these chips at 90nm before forging onward. ie: so apple can breath some fresh life into the mac product line.
They can't skip 65. Right now there are questions about how feasible 45 is as this point. If they haven't made much progress with 90, and that seems probable. Then even going to 65 will be a nightmare. If the problem isn't solved, 65 could have almost three times as much heat to dissipate than 90 does.
They (the industry, that is) are talking about micro channels built into the chip itself to enable a gas coolant to flow through the substrate layers where the heat is being generated. This is instead of trying to cool off the junctions from the hellish distance of the outer case (the way it's always been done.)
If solutions like this, and others that are being developed, can't be done in a year or two, we may even be stuck with 90 through 2006.
