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Hitachi joins IBM's quest for sub-32nm semiconductor technology
As of this morning you can add Hitachi to the list of cohorts IBM has gathered in its quest for sub-32nm circuitry. Hitachi's 2-year semiconductor research agreement -- a first between IBM and Hitachi -- puts them under a loose-knit alliance with AMD, Chartered, Freescale, Infineon, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba and STMicroelectronics. The notable, non-member here is of course, Intel; that little company making "45-nm processes" and "Hi-K metal gate" house-hold terms amongst geeky, type-A adopters of consumer electronics. Yes, we're looking at you.
Toshiba, IBM, Samsung and others in pact with the 32-nm devil
Toshiba just announced its membership in an alliance to develop system chips using 32-nm circuitry. That's well below the existing 45-nm processes used in manufacturing Intel's Penryn, for example. The alliance includes IBM, AMD, Samsung (already pushing 30-nm NAND), Infineon, Freescale, and Singapore's Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing. No surprise really, what with Tosh already in bed with IBM to develop chips using 32-nm processes. The agreement is good until 2010 and covers design, development, and the production of the itty bitty circuitry. A move which should reduce manufacturing costs for the alliance with the savings passed along to us consumers.
Samsung reveals first 30-nm 64Gb NAND chip -- and a bit of skin
We're not sure what's more impressive here: the fact that Samsung has produced the world's first 30nm-class 64Gb (bit, not byte!) NAND chip or that they're now roping defenseless product waifs into hawking their silicon wafers. Nevertheless, we're looking at a serious jump in density in just 10 months. A maximum of 16 of the new chips can be combined for cost-effective 128GB (byte, not bit!) MLC NAND-based flash cards used primarily for data storage. Sammy's faster SLC based flash cards will still be the preferred choice when speed is of the utmost priority and cost isn't an issue. As such, Samsung also announced a 32Gb SLC NAND chip based on the same SaDPT (Self-aligned double patterning technology) manufacturing process. Sadly, we'll have to wait until 2009 for production to begin. Still, he looks happy dontchathink?[Via AVING]
Intel touts 20x less power-hungry UMPCs, lays out processor roadmap
While we already have a pretty good idea of Intel's near-term processor plans, the company has now decided to give folks a glimpse a bit further into the future, laying out some its processor plans through the year 2010 at its spring analyst meeting this week. Among the more notable boastings by the company is a promised 20x reduction in UMPCs' power consumption by 2009-2010. That'll supposedly be made possible by its new "Moorestown" system on a chip, which is set to replace its still-to-be-released Menlow system. In addition to the lower power consumption, Moorestown also promises to reduce thermals by 9x and cut the actual size by the same amount. As for the rest of its roadmap, Intel is continuing to talk up its 45-nanometer manufacturing process, with the first such chip (code-named Penryn) still on track to ship this year. Don't get too used to those 45nm chips though, as Intel's says it's planning to release its first 32-nanometer chip, a Nehalem-based processor dubbed "Westmere," sometime in 2009.Read - RegHardware, "Intel web tablet SoC to cut power consumption by 20x"Read - InformationWeek, "Intel Road Map Stretches From Quad Cores To Mobile Internet"