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Scaling Dead At 130-nm????

Posted: Wed May 05, 2004 12:27 pm
by Apoptosis
Hum...

This is kind of interesting for all those follong the scaling trend recently from 130nm to 90nm. ie: northwood to prescott
"This lithographic definition of process technology is absolutely meaningless," said Meyerson, referring to the custom of labeling manufacturing processes with a number designed to correspond to the minimum geometries defined in the process or the half-pitch of the most aggressive interconnect structures. "Somewhere between 130-nm and 90-nm the whole system fell apart. Things stopped working and nobody seemed to notice." He added, "Scaling is already dead but nobody noticed it had stopped breathing and its lips had turned blue."
Interesting Read

Posted: Wed May 05, 2004 4:39 pm
by T-Shirt
It's interesting, but I think he is ignoring the work on SOI and multigated transistors.
electron leakage across small pitch circuits is fairly well understood, and has been worked on for atleast 10-15 years, which is why all the effort has gone into SOI, tri-gates and copper trace technologies.
no one in the industry expected scaling to last as long as it has (Gordon Moore is amazed his 'Law' has held up so well). but using the best current techiques there's probable 2 or 3 generation left in electronic chips, by then optical circuits are the most likely choice.

Posted: Wed May 05, 2004 4:49 pm
by Apoptosis
yeah I agre with you 100%

I read an interesting article about tri-gates in a print mag a few months ago an dit was interesting to say the least. I can see two more generations in electronic chips for sure, but 3 or more will be on the edge. Should be interesting and only a few years away. This also gives ample time for new technology to be found to replace current trouble spots! :wink: