AMD Details its Future Chips

Zardon · Dec 11, 2002, 12:50 AM

SAN FRANCISCO -- Advanced Micro Devices Monday revealed a little-known fact about the company - its R&D designers are into heavy metal.

While its archrival Intel claims silicon will continue to be the dominant catalyst for chips, AMD said it is looking at alternatives to polysilicon, such as nickel, as a way to create better transistors and memory in computers.

At the International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) here, the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based semiconductor maker began outlining its strategy for its future cell structures with the release of six technical papers. The company says aspects of the research could begin popping up in products as early as 2005.

"AMD labs are already well into development of next generation transistor and memory technologies that, once perfected, will power our customers' products to unprecedented levels of performance," said AMD vice president of process technology development Craig Sander.

With the help of researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, AMD said its research proves their new transistor device type could replace today's planar transistors as the industry standard for high-performance logic chips. The company released three technical papers outlining recent achievements in their ongoing research.

Known in the microchip industry as a Fin Field Effect Transistor (FinFET), AMD said its new structure uses a single vertical silicon "fin" to create two gates instead of one. The company said this process doubles the electrical current that can be sent through the transistor and improves the transistor's switching characteristics. In September, AMD demonstrated a functioning FinFET with a gate length of 10 nanometers (nm), or 10 billionths of a meter.

We expect our transistor performance goals will require gates below 15nm by the end of the decade, presenting some exciting opportunities for R&D," said Sander. "Multi-gate transistor structures such as our version of FinFET hold the key to achieving next generation performance, while continuing to use many of our existing manufacturing methods."

AMD also presented two papers on the company's success in building transistors with gates made from metal, rather than polysilicon.

The company said a nickel-based gate could increase transistor performance by improving electrical current flow. AMD said metal gates have the potential to eliminate the practice of placing impurities in the channel under the transistor's gate to achieve optimum switching characteristics. The removal of these impurities results in better electrical current flow. The company said the nickel-based gates are cheaper to make than other metal gate technologies being investigated in the industry.

The company estimates the new research findings should be implemented in its fabrication processes around 2005.

In the realm of Flash memory, AMD is presented a paper in conjunction with Stanford University that demonstrates a new Flash memory cell structure that says making Flash memory smaller than the 65nm generation is possible.

The new structure uses minute "nanowires" of polysilicon measuring as small as 5nm wide to store an electrical charge. AMD said the technology could enable larger amounts of memory to be incorporated into a single Flash memory chip, while increasing speed and reducing the power needed to read and write to the cell. By Michael Singer

Kelsenellenelvian · Dec 11, 2002, 04:01 AM

Its about damn time they showed some proof they are trying to compete more with Intel.

DriveEuro · Dec 11, 2002, 04:48 AM

Well for once you aren't bashing/chewing out AMD users.

Vampyromaniac · Dec 11, 2002, 09:00 AM

Hey, man . . . K luvs us! . . . well, some of us

Kelsenellenelvian · Dec 11, 2002, 10:14 AM

I luv almost everbody and after what i just found out about the OC'ing abilities of Athlons they don't seem too bad now. http://www.vr-zone.com/guides/AMD/AthlonXP/

ExitiosuS · Dec 12, 2002, 06:10 AM

Gotta love AMD.

TWINKY- · Dec 12, 2002, 11:37 AM

Oh i cant wait until i get my hands onto these new chips... well the cheap versions

Lathspell · Dec 17, 2002, 05:14 PM

long live to AMD

Dec 11, 2002, 12:50 AM	#1
Zardon DriverHeaven Founder Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 32,480 Rep Power: 177	AMD Details its Future Chips SAN FRANCISCO -- Advanced Micro Devices Monday revealed a little-known fact about the company - its R&D designers are into heavy metal. While its archrival Intel claims silicon will continue to be the dominant catalyst for chips, AMD said it is looking at alternatives to polysilicon, such as nickel, as a way to create better transistors and memory in computers. At the International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) here, the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based semiconductor maker began outlining its strategy for its future cell structures with the release of six technical papers. The company says aspects of the research could begin popping up in products as early as 2005. "AMD labs are already well into development of next generation transistor and memory technologies that, once perfected, will power our customers' products to unprecedented levels of performance," said AMD vice president of process technology development Craig Sander. With the help of researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, AMD said its research proves their new transistor device type could replace today's planar transistors as the industry standard for high-performance logic chips. The company released three technical papers outlining recent achievements in their ongoing research. Known in the microchip industry as a Fin Field Effect Transistor (FinFET), AMD said its new structure uses a single vertical silicon "fin" to create two gates instead of one. The company said this process doubles the electrical current that can be sent through the transistor and improves the transistor's switching characteristics. In September, AMD demonstrated a functioning FinFET with a gate length of 10 nanometers (nm), or 10 billionths of a meter. We expect our transistor performance goals will require gates below 15nm by the end of the decade, presenting some exciting opportunities for R&D," said Sander. "Multi-gate transistor structures such as our version of FinFET hold the key to achieving next generation performance, while continuing to use many of our existing manufacturing methods." AMD also presented two papers on the company's success in building transistors with gates made from metal, rather than polysilicon. The company said a nickel-based gate could increase transistor performance by improving electrical current flow. AMD said metal gates have the potential to eliminate the practice of placing impurities in the channel under the transistor's gate to achieve optimum switching characteristics. The removal of these impurities results in better electrical current flow. The company said the nickel-based gates are cheaper to make than other metal gate technologies being investigated in the industry. The company estimates the new research findings should be implemented in its fabrication processes around 2005. In the realm of Flash memory, AMD is presented a paper in conjunction with Stanford University that demonstrates a new Flash memory cell structure that says making Flash memory smaller than the 65nm generation is possible. The new structure uses minute "nanowires" of polysilicon measuring as small as 5nm wide to store an electrical charge. AMD said the technology could enable larger amounts of memory to be incorporated into a single Flash memory chip, while increasing speed and reducing the power needed to read and write to the cell. By Michael Singer

Dec 11, 2002, 04:01 AM	#2
Kelsenellenelvian Master of my own Destiny Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: EverDawn Kingdom,TruEarth Posts: 1,395 Rep Power: 0	Its about damn time they showed some proof they are trying to compete more with Intel. __________________ [color=#0000ff] Download Windows Post-Install Wizard v4.3.8 and WPI Lite v1.2 Here [/color][color=red][color=blue][/color][/color]

Dec 11, 2002, 04:48 AM	#3
DriveEuro HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Gurnee Illinois Posts: 4,677 Rep Power: 0	Well for once you aren't bashing/chewing out AMD users. __________________ [color=orange]ASUS P4P800 Deluxe [color=black]-[/color] 2.4C --> 3300mhz [color=black]-[/color] Mushkin PC3200 at 220 5-2-2-2 (cpu limited) [color=black]-[/color] BBAti 9800Pro at 430/375 [/color] [color=black]3[/color][color=gray]D[/color]M[color=black]a[/color][color=gray]r[/color]k[color=yellow]01[/color] [color=black]3[/color][color=gray]D[/color]M[color=black]a[/color][color=gray]r[/color]k[color=yellow]03[/color] 16001200 12801024

Dec 11, 2002, 09:00 AM	#4
Vampyromaniac confutatis maledictis Join Date: May 2002 Location: somewhere dark Posts: 5,974 Rep Power: 74 System Specs	Hey, man . . . K luvs us! . . . well, some of us __________________ *Digitalis 3.3* Athlon 64 3000 // ASUS K8V SE Deluxe // 1024MB PC3200 (2-2-2-10 1T) ATI All-In-Wonder 9700 Pro // 20" Dell 2005FPW (DVI) M-Audio Revo 7.1 + Philips Acoustic Edge // Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 320/16 Western Digital WD3200KS + 120/8 Seagate 7200.7 NEC ND-3550A 16x DVD±RW + Lite-On 52x24x CD-RW Antec Sonata case // 480W Antec TruePower personal bests \|\| Aq'3: 46796 \| 3D'01: 20461 \| 3D'03: 6336 \| 3D'05: 2677 \| PC'04: 4605 \| PC'02: 7691,9092,1250

Dec 11, 2002, 10:14 AM	#5
Kelsenellenelvian Master of my own Destiny Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: EverDawn Kingdom,TruEarth Posts: 1,395 Rep Power: 0	I luv almost everbody and after what i just found out about the OC'ing abilities of Athlons they don't seem too bad now. http://www.vr-zone.com/guides/AMD/AthlonXP/ __________________ [color=#0000ff] Download Windows Post-Install Wizard v4.3.8 and WPI Lite v1.2 Here [/color][color=red][color=blue][/color][/color]

Dec 12, 2002, 06:10 AM	#6
ExitiosuS Simian Masterpiece! Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: London, Ont. Canada Posts: 358 Rep Power: 59 System Specs	Gotta love AMD.

Dec 12, 2002, 11:37 AM	#7
TWINKY- DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 13 Rep Power: 0	Oh i cant wait until i get my hands onto these new chips... well the cheap versions

Dec 17, 2002, 05:14 PM	#8
Lathspell DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Venezuela Posts: 14 Rep Power: 0	long live to AMD