AMD shrinks desktop chips to 65-nm design
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AMD began selling its dual-core desktop PC chip with a 65-nanometer design, making it faster and more efficient than the 90-nm version.
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What will the future hold for AMD?
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Advanced Micro Devices managed to reduce the maximum thermal output of its newly released 90 nanometer Opteron server processors by 25 percent compared to the previous generation, the company said Wednesday.
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SAN FRANCISCO - Further pitting itself against Intel Corp.'s Pentium-M offerings, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) on Monday expanded its lineup of mobile Athlon 64-bit processors.
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(InfoWorld) - As Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) race toward smaller, faster chips, the fierce competition is taking its toll as both companies struggle to maintain profit margins by using more efficient manufacturing. At the tiny scale of 45-nanometer transistors and wires, a single speck of dust on a 300-millimeter silicon wafer can destroy an entire processor. Lower manufacturing yields cut into a company's profit margin, reducing the number of functional chips they can sell from each wafer. "As an industry, we're running out of gas at 45-nanometer geometry," said Nick Kepler, vice president of logic technology development for AMD. "We've been unable to scale the size as much as we used to because of leakage. We're still putting transistors closer together, but not shrinking the gates. So geometry shrinks can hurt you now, which they haven't in the past." One problem is that 65-nm and 45-nm chip components have shrunk so far that they are now smaller than the wavelength of the light used to carve those features onto silicon chips. To fight that trend,Â AMD and IBM Corp. said they will use three new technologies to boost manufacturing efficiency. By the second half of 2008, AMD expects to be producing 45-nm chips using immersion lithography, ultra-low-k interconnect dielectrics, and enhanced transistor strain. The companies made the announcement at the International Electron Device Meeting in San Francisco. By inserting liquid instead of air between the projection lens and the wafer, AMD and IBM can reduce the wavelength of the light, giving them a 40 percent gain in resolution compared to dry lithography and allowing them to sell a higher percentage of the hundreds of chips on every wafer, Kepler said. Likewise, IBM plans to produce 65-nm server chips by the second half of 2007, then shrink both server and gaming chips to 45-nm at some point in the future, said Gary Patton, vice president of technology development for IBM's semiconductor research and development center. AMD and IBM have cooperated on chip development since 2003, and last year extended their contract through 2011 to reach the 32-nm and 22-nm chip generations. In response, Intel says that it beat AMD to the market with 65-nm chip sales by more than a year, andÂ has already begun producing samples of its 45-nm "Penryn" quad-core chipÂ for notebooks, desktops and servers. Intel plans to ship those chips in the second half of 2007. Even if AMD improves its manufacturing, Intel is poised to continue its lead in shrinking chip geometries because it has shorter gate lengths and SRAM (static RAM) cell sizes, said Rob Willoner, a technology analyst with Intel's technology and manufacturing group. "People have different meanings when they talk about the 65-nm process. There's not an industry standard," he said. AMD's Opteron chip was a commercial success because its excellent design compensated for poor dimensions at the 90-nm scale, he said. Chips with a greater cache of local memory stored in SRAM cells can avoid the time-intensive process of retrieving data from external sources. At the same conference in San Francisco this week, Intel announced plans to use "floating-body cells" to further increase the amount of on-chip memory, according to published reports. Despite the manufacturing challenges, chip companies continue to build smaller features because of the tremendous performance benefits. By shrinking from 90 nm to 65 nm, Intel chips have double the transistor density while reducing leakage five-fold (at constant performance) and requiring 30 percent less switching power. Â
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AMD has fleshed out its mobile chip catalogue this week by shipping the Mobile AMD Athlon 64 3000+ processor. It joins a range of mobile models, from 2800+ to 3400+, but is the first to be built using 90nm technology.
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AMD intends to hold the performance crown for desktop processors with today&#39;s introduction of the Athlon 64 4000+ (2.4 GHz) and FX-55 (2.
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US chipmaker AMD on Monday introduced a faster mobile chip, Athlon 64 processor 3000+, for thin and light notebook computers. The new chip enables a powerful 32-bit computing
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Quiet - someone might notice... AMD has quietly added a pair of top-of-the-line Athlon 64 X2 processors to its public price list. Missing from the list when AMD introduced its 65nm processors on 5 December, the 5400+ and 5600+ have now been added to the line-up. Shhhh, don't mention it - someone might want to buy one...â¦
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Slotting into existing product line AMD looks set to introduce its first 65nm processors in December this year, a quartet of dual-core Athlon 64 X2 CPUs, if a report citing sources who've seen the chip maker's latest roadmap are to be believed.â¦
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Athlon 64 X2 line extended AMD this morning rolled out its 65nm Athlon 64 X2 dual-core processors, as expected. The chips are pitched as "energy efficient" products, and come in at the same price as their 90nm equivalents.â¦
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AMD will implement the strained silicon manufacturing technique on its upcoming 90-nanometer processors as well as 130-nanometer processors.
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Advanced Micro Devices announced its plans for a new lineup of mobile Athlon 64-bit processors intended for thin and light notebooks.
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AMD is expected to unveil its most powerful desktop processors to date this week, a few days after rival Intel disclosed changes to its desktop processor road map.
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, 8/30/2004. With 90 nanometer chips now on the market, the race for the next node - 65nm -- is now underway. Intel is on track for initial production of chips based on 65-nanometer process
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Remedy for recent shortages, it's suggested AMD will ship its 65nm dual-core Athlon 64 X2 processors a week on Tuesday, it has been claimed. If correct, the 5 December debut apparently marks an acceleration of AMD's anticipated 65nm roll-out schedule.â¦
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Duo, Solo for the chop Intel has begun the process of ridding itself of an entire generation of 65nm Core processors, to pave the way for 45nm 'Penryn' Core 2 chips, due to begin appear in November. Marked for termination: all the Core Solo and Core Duo CPUs.â¦