The 90
nm process refers to the level of
MOSFET (
CMOS)
fabrication process
Semiconductor device fabrication is the process used to manufacture semiconductor devices, typically integrated circuit (IC) chips such as modern computer processors, microcontrollers, and memory chips such as NAND flash and DRAM that are pres ...
technology that was commercialized by the 2003–2005 timeframe, by leading semiconductor companies like
Toshiba,
Sony,
Samsung
The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...
,
IBM,
Intel
Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 ser ...
,
Fujitsu,
TSMC,
Elpida,
AMD,
Infineon,
Texas Instruments and
Micron Technology.
The origin of the 90 nm value is historical, it reflects a trend of 70% scaling every 2–3 years. The naming is formally determined by the
International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors
The International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) is a set of documents produced by a group of semiconductor industry experts. These experts are representative of the sponsoring organisations which include the Semiconductor Industry A ...
(ITRS).
The 193 nm wavelength was introduced by many (but not all) companies for
lithography of critical layers mainly during the 90 nm node. Yield issues associated with this transition (due to the use of new
photoresists) were reflected in the high costs associated with this transition.
Even more significantly, the 300 mm wafer size became mainstream at the 90 nm node. The previous wafer size was 200 mm diameter.
History
A 90nm
silicon
Silicon is a chemical element with the symbol Si and atomic number 14. It is a hard, brittle crystalline solid with a blue-grey metallic luster, and is a tetravalent metalloid and semiconductor. It is a member of group 14 in the periodic ...
MOSFET was
fabricated by Iranian engineer
Ghavam Shahidi
Ghavam G. Shahidi (born 1959) is an Iranian-American electrical engineer and IBM Fellow. He is the director of Silicon Technology at the IBM Thomas J Watson Research Center. He is best known for his pioneering work in silicon-on-insulator (SOI) c ...
(later
IBM director) with D.A. Antoniadis and H.I. Smith at
MIT in 1988. The device was fabricated using
X-ray lithography
X-ray lithography is a process used in semiconductor device fabrication industry to selectively remove parts of a thin film of photoresist. It uses X-rays to transfer a geometric pattern from a mask to a light-sensitive chemical photoresist, o ...
.
Toshiba, Sony and Samsung developed a 90nm process during 20012002, before being introduced in 2002 for Toshiba's
eDRAM and Samsung's 2
Gb NAND flash memory.
IBM demonstrated a 90nm
silicon-on-insulator (SOI)
CMOS process, with development led by
Ghavam Shahidi
Ghavam G. Shahidi (born 1959) is an Iranian-American electrical engineer and IBM Fellow. He is the director of Silicon Technology at the IBM Thomas J Watson Research Center. He is best known for his pioneering work in silicon-on-insulator (SOI) c ...
, in 2002. The same year, Intel demonstrated a 90nm
strained-silicon
Strained silicon is a layer of silicon in which the silicon atoms are stretched beyond their normal interatomic distance. This can be accomplished by putting the layer of silicon over a substrate of silicon–germanium (). As the atoms in the si ...
process. Fujitsu commercially introduced its 90nm process in 2003
[65nm CMOS Process Technology](_blank)
/ref> followed by TSMC in 2004.
Gurtej Singh Sandhu of Micron Technology initiated the development of atomic layer deposition high-k films for DRAM memory devices. This helped drive cost-effective implementation of semiconductor memory, starting with 90nm node
In general, a node is a localized swelling (a " knot") or a point of intersection (a vertex).
Node may refer to:
In mathematics
* Vertex (graph theory), a vertex in a mathematical graph
* Vertex (geometry), a point where two or more curves, line ...
DRAM.
Example: Elpida 90 nm DDR2 SDRAM process
Elpida Memory
Micron Memory Japan, K.K. is a Japanese subsidiary of Micron Technology. It was formerly known as established in 1999 that developed, designed, manufactured and sold dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) products. It was also a semiconductor foun ...
's 90 nm DDR2 SDRAM process.
* Use of 300 mm wafer size
* Use of KrF (248 nm) lithography with optical proximity correction
* 512 Mbit
* 1.8 V operation
* Derivative of earlier 110 nm and 100 nm processes
Processors using 90 nm process technology
* Sony/Toshiba EE+ GS ( PlayStation 2) - 2003
* Sony/Toshiba/IBM Cell Processor
Cell is a multi-core microprocessor microarchitecture that combines a general-purpose PowerPC core of modest performance with streamlined coprocessing elements which greatly accelerate multimedia and vector processing applications, as well as m ...
- 2005
* IBM PowerPC G5 970FX - 2004
* IBM PowerPC G5 970MP - 2005
* IBM PowerPC G5 970GX - 2005
* IBM "Waternoose" Xbox 360 Processor - 2005
* Intel Pentium 4
Pentium 4 is a series of single-core CPUs for desktops, laptops and entry-level servers manufactured by Intel. The processors were shipped from November 20, 2000 until August 8, 2008. The production of Netburst processors was active from 2000 ...
Prescott - 2004-02
* Intel Celeron
Celeron is Intel's brand name for low-end IA-32 and x86-64 computer microprocessor models targeted at low-cost personal computers.
Celeron processors are compatible with IA-32 software. They typically offer less performance per clock speed co ...
D Prescott-256 - 2004-05
* Intel Pentium M
The Pentium M is a family of mobile 32-bit single-core x86 microprocessors (with the modified Intel P6 microarchitecture) introduced in March 2003 and forming a part of the Intel Carmel notebook platform under the then new Centrino brand. The ...
Dothan - 2004-05
* Intel Celeron
Celeron is Intel's brand name for low-end IA-32 and x86-64 computer microprocessor models targeted at low-cost personal computers.
Celeron processors are compatible with IA-32 software. They typically offer less performance per clock speed co ...
M Dothan-1024 - 2004-08
* Intel Xeon
Xeon ( ) is a brand of x86 microprocessors designed, manufactured, and marketed by Intel, targeted at the non-consumer workstation, server, and embedded system markets. It was introduced in June 1998. Xeon processors are based on the same ar ...
Nocona, Irwindale, Cranford, Potomac, Paxville - 2004-06
* Intel Pentium D
Pentium D is a range of desktop 64-bit x86-64 processors based on the NetBurst microarchitecture, which is the dual-core variant of the Pentium 4 manufactured by Intel. Each CPU comprised two dies, each containing a single core, residing next to ...
Smithfield - 2005-05
* AMD Athlon 64
The Athlon 64 is a ninth-generation, AMD64-architecture microprocessor produced by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), released on September 23, 2003. It is the third processor to bear the name ''Athlon'', and the immediate successor to the Athlon XP. T ...
Winchester, Venice, San Diego, Orleans - 2004-10
* AMD Athlon 64 X2
The Athlon 64 X2 is the first native dual-core desktop central processing unit (CPU) designed by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). It was designed from scratch as native dual-core by using an already multi-CPU enabled Athlon 64, joining it with anot ...
Manchester, Toledo, Windsor - 2005-05
* AMD Sempron Palermo and Manila - 2004-08
* AMD Turion 64 Lancaster and Richmond - 2005-03
* NVIDIA
Nvidia CorporationOfficially written as NVIDIA and stylized in its logo as VIDIA with the lowercase "n" the same height as the uppercase "VIDIA"; formerly stylized as VIDIA with a large italicized lowercase "n" on products from the mid 1990s to ...
GeForce 8800 GTS (G80) - 2006
* AMD Turion 64 X2
AMD Turion is the brand name AMD applies to its x86-64 low-power consumption (''mobile'') processors codenamed ''K8L''. The Turion 64 and Turion 64 X2/Ultra processors compete with Intel's mobile processors, initially the ''Pentium M'' and the Int ...
Taylor and Trinidad - 2006-05
* AMD Opteron Venus, Troy, and Athens - 2005-08
* AMD Dual-core Opteron Denmark, Italy, Egypt, Santa Ana, and Santa Rosa
* VIA C7
The VIA C7 is an x86 central processing unit designed by Centaur Technology and sold by VIA Technologies.
Product history
The C7 delivers a number of improvements to the older VIA C3 cores but is nearly identical to the latest VIA C3 Nehemiah ...
- 2005-05
* Loongson (Godson) 2Е STLS2E02 - 2007-04
* Loongson (Godson) 2F STLS2F02 - 2008-07
* MCST-4R
The MCST R1000 (russian: МЦСТ R1000) is a 64-bit microprocessor developed by Moscow Center of SPARC Technologies (MCST) and fabricated by TSMC.
During development this microprocessor was designated as MCST-4R.
MCST R1000 Highlights
*implemen ...
- 2010-12
* Elbrus-2S+ - 2011-11
See also
* Photolithography
References
External links
PC World Review
Review
ITworld
International Data Group (IDG, Inc.) is a market intelligence and demand generation company focused on the technology industry. IDG, Inc.’s mission is centered around supporting the technology industry through research, data, marketing technol ...
AMD
Fujitsu
2004 introductions
*00090
American inventions
Iranian inventions
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