cnet: Intel produces chips for next generation

[richardginn]

http://news.com.com/2100-1006_3-5111...ml?tag=cd_lede

Big quote from article:

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based chipmaker announced Monday that it has made Static Random Access Memory (SRAM) cells, a type of memory, with the 65-nanometer process and will start to mass-manufacture chips on the process in 2005. The nanometer figure refers to the average size of features on chips produced with the process. Most PC microprocessors on the market today are made on the 130-nanometer process, and manufacturers are just starting to produce 90-nanometer chips now. (A nanometer is a billionth of meter.)

Reducing the size of the chip improves performance, reduces costs and can potentially cut energy consumption. In a nutshell, electrons have a shorter commute in 65-nanometer chips, so performance goes up. The gate length--the distance electrons travel to get from the source to the drain on a transistor and thereby flip the transistor on--drops from 50 nanometers to 35 nanometers in 65-nanometer chips.

"You can get a 40 to 50 percent increase in clock speed with no further improvements," said Mark Bohr, Intel senior fellow and director of process architecture and integration.

This whole article has interesting info in it.

[lightbulb8817]

65nm

[kpxgq]

01nm

[dudewth]

Originally posted by kpxgq
01nm

Good luck with that.

[Thunderbird1GHz]

sram, isnt that essentally offdie cache?

[Alientank]

Originally posted by kpxgq
01nm

heh

[mikead_99]

richardginn:

"You can get a 40 to 50 percent increase in clock speed with no further improvements," said Mark Bohr, Intel senior fellow and director of process architecture and integration.

Very nice. Let's hope they can roll that out smoother than the 09nm.

[Moridin]

Originally posted by Thunderbird1GHz
sram, isnt that essentally offdie cache?

That’s one of the uses for it, but almost al cache is SRAM whether it is on the die or off.. SRAM is memory made from logic gates or transistors. (usually 4 or 6 transistors per bit) while DRAM is memory made by storing a charge on a capacitor and only requires a single transistor.

DRAM is denser, meaning you can pack more of onto a chip. SRAM is faster and can be made using the same production process as a microprocessor, which means you can easily put it on the processor die.

There is also something called eDRAM which stands for embedded DRAM. It’s basically DRAM integrated on the chip just like SRAM is. The problem with eDRAM is that its more expensive to make a chip of a given size, the clock rate of the chip is a little lower, and its still not as fast as SRAM. On the upside you can get about 5 times as much of it on a chip, so you could put a lot more cache on a processor.

[Alientank]

Originally posted by Moridin
That’s one of the uses for it, but almost al cache is SRAM whether it is on the die or off.. SRAM is memory made from logic gates or transistors. (usually 4 or 6 transistors per bit) while DRAM is memory made by storing a charge on a capacitor and only requires a single transistor.

DRAM is denser, meaning you can pack more of onto a chip. SRAM is faster and can be made using the same production process as a microprocessor, which means you can easily put it on the processor die.

There is also something called eDRAM which stands for embedded DRAM. It’s basically DRAM integrated on the chip just like SRAM is. The problem with eDRAM is that its more expensive to make a chip of a given size, the clock rate of the chip is a little lower, and its still not as fast as SRAM. On the upside you can get about 5 times as much of it on a chip, so you could put a lot more cache on a processor.

And I thought I was kinda dorky/nerdy