IBM, Chartered, Infineon And Samsung Announce Process And Design Readiness For Silicon Circuits On 45nm Low-Power Techno

IBM, Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing, Infineon Technologies, and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. today announced first silicon-functional circuits and the availability of design kits based on their collaboration for 45nm low-power process technology.

The early characterization of key design elements in silicon, coupled with the availability of early design kits, provide designers with a significant head start in moving to the latest process from the industry-leading CMOS technology research and development alliance. The early design kits are developed through a collaborative effort by all four companies and are immediately available for select customers.

The first working circuits in 45nm technology, targeted at next-generation communication systems, were proven in silicon using the process technology jointly developed by the alliance partners and were produced at the IBM 300-millimeter (mm) fabrication line in East Fishkill, NY, where the joint development team is based. Among the successfully verified blocks are standard library cells and I/O elements provided by Infineon, as well as embedded memory developed by the alliance. Infineon has included special circuitry on the first 300mm wafers to debug the complex process and to gain experience in product architecture interactions.

“This result is another significant milestone in our successful strategy to develop optimized product solutions using the most advanced technology platforms as early as possible,” stated Hermann Eul, member of the board of Infineon Technologies and president of its Communication Solutions business group. “The first structures in 45nm represent our most cutting-edge technology, bringing together high-performance capabilities and low-power consumption. This solution is clearly well-suited to address the needs of next-generation mobile applications.”

The development of the design kits incorporates design expertise from all four companies in order to facilitate earlier transition to the new process by chip customer designers, as well as to continue to drive single-design, multi-fab manufacturing capability for maximum design leverage and to bring about ultimate consumer benefit. The 45nm low-power process is expected to be installed and fully qualified at Chartered, IBM and Samsung 300mm fabs by the end of 2007.

“The speed, innovation and completeness with which this first 45nm offering has been developed and made available to customers demonstrates the growing customer value and strength of the partnership between these four companies. Our early hardware results indicate that the 45nm node device performance is at least 30 percent greater than that of the 65nm node, and that product developers can design to this process with confidence,” said Lisa Su, vice president of semiconductor research and development at IBM and the head of the joint development alliance. “By leveraging the significant R&D and IP resources available worldwide across this alliance of industry leaders, we are able to bring manufacturing technology and design readiness to the market much sooner and effectively for customers than working individually. And, the additional benefit to customers is the flexibility in accessing the technology thanks to the GDSII compatibility across multiple manufacturing facilities.”

“The unique cooperation among IBM, Chartered, Infineon and Samsung reduces the inherent risks in adoption of advanced process technology,” said Ho-Kyu Kang, vice president of the advanced technology development team at Samsung Electronics’ System LSI Business. “Our customers leverage the combined strengths of our system level, product design, and manufacturing expertise in the development of leadership design kits and process technology.”

Source: Samsung Electronics

Related stories:

'Nanonet' circuits closer to making flexible electronics reality
Researchers have overcome a major obstacle in producing transistors from networks of carbon nanotubes, a technology that could make it possible to print circuits on plastic sheets for applications including flexible displays and an electronic skin to cover an entire aircraft to monitor crack formation.
Keeping up with your peers, securely
Mobile peer-to-peer (P2P) applications allow a team or group to create new levels of ad hoc co-operation and collaboration around a specific, real-time goal. But developing compelling and secure applications is a challenge. Now a platform developed by European researchers rises to that challenge.
Fuel from food waste: bacteria provide power
Researchers have combined the efforts of two kinds of bacteria to produce hydrogen in a bioreactor, with the product from one providing food for the other. According to an article in the August issue of Microbiology Today, this technology has an added bonus: leftover enzymes can be used to scavenge precious metals from spent automotive catalysts to help make fuel cells that convert hydrogen into energy.
Goodbye to faulty software?
Will it ever be possible to buy software guaranteed to be free from bugs? A team of European researchers think so. Their work on the mathematical foundations of programming could one day revolutionise the software industry.
Many processors make light work of calculations
Solving complicated calculations has never been easy, but a new European computing grid means researchers can number crunch their data faster than ever before.
Engineers show nanotube circuits can be made en masse
Most innovations don't go far unless there is a way to turn them into products that are manufacturable on a mass scale. That's why new research on carbon nanotubes, presented June 19 by a group of Stanford electrical engineers, is likely to draw industry attention.
Simple insulation could combat heat, cold and noise
Around the world, an estimated one billion people--mostly in rural villages and the shanty towns surrounding developing-world cities--live in houses whose roofs are nothing more than thin sheets of corrugated metal. These houses become unbearably hot in the summer, freezing in the winter (especially in high-altitude regions), and deafeningly noisy when heavy rains pound on the bare metal.
Solution to high energy costs could lie underground
Sandia National Laboratories researcher Georgianne Peek thinks a possible solution to high energy costs lies underground. And it’s not coal or oil. It’s compressed air energy storage (CAES).

News discussion:

Technology news