TI beats Intel to the punch?
New Reuters story...
3:01 AM ET 06/12/06
Texas Instruments has new memory technique-Report
NEW YORK, June 12 (Reuters) - Texas Instruments Inc. plans to announce on Monday early results for a new process that yields memory cells for storing data that are 30 percent smaller than those being made by Intel Corp., a report said.
TI's process, a major change in chip-manufacturing technology, uses immersion lithography, The Wall Street Journal reported. The process involves shining light through a film of water on semiconductor wafers to trace finer lines of circuitry, it said.
The process, to be announced at a technical conference in Hawaii, will reduce the most advanced production process today from 65 nanometers, or billionths of a meter, to 45 nanometers, the newspaper said.
A TI spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
TI said it has produced memory cells with the immersion process that have dimensions of 0.24 square microns, or millionths of a meter, which is half the size of equivalent cells on its 65-nanometer process, the Journal said.
Intel , which is using conventional lithography, has projected cells on its 45-nanometer process of 0.346 square microns, about 39 percent smaller than cells on its 65-nanometer process, the newspaper said.
Miniaturization boosts chip processing speed by cutting down on the distance the electric load must travel
3:01 AM ET 06/12/06
Texas Instruments has new memory technique-Report
NEW YORK, June 12 (Reuters) - Texas Instruments Inc. plans to announce on Monday early results for a new process that yields memory cells for storing data that are 30 percent smaller than those being made by Intel Corp., a report said.
TI's process, a major change in chip-manufacturing technology, uses immersion lithography, The Wall Street Journal reported. The process involves shining light through a film of water on semiconductor wafers to trace finer lines of circuitry, it said.
The process, to be announced at a technical conference in Hawaii, will reduce the most advanced production process today from 65 nanometers, or billionths of a meter, to 45 nanometers, the newspaper said.
A TI spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
TI said it has produced memory cells with the immersion process that have dimensions of 0.24 square microns, or millionths of a meter, which is half the size of equivalent cells on its 65-nanometer process, the Journal said.
Intel , which is using conventional lithography, has projected cells on its 45-nanometer process of 0.346 square microns, about 39 percent smaller than cells on its 65-nanometer process, the newspaper said.
Miniaturization boosts chip processing speed by cutting down on the distance the electric load must travel
Comments
Originally posted by SpamSandwich
Miniaturization boosts chip processing speed by cutting down on the distance the electric load must travel
And the price comes down too.
I'd wager that TI will be 9 months behind Intel in shipping real 45 nm product. Intel did demo a 45 nm SRAM 6 months ago afterall. As far as I know, TI hasn't shipped a 65 nm part yet. They may have this quarter, but their fab cycles should be about 3 to 6 months longer than Intel's now.