Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD)

[SemiconEng]

As these chips get smaller and smaller, due to process improvements, the penalty for larger cache gets less and less. At 754 pins, there has to be sufficient chip area to provide all the bonding points to the pins as well, and to provide enough surface area for heat removal.

Die size for Bond Pad Area, actually isn't an issue anymore, since the introduction of the Flip Chip C4 Bump process. It use to be a requirement to have enough surface area around the edge of the die to accomodate the Bond Pads to connect to the gold wire bonds between the die and the pins. Now the chip is flipped over, and the Bond Pads are conncted to the pins using little Solder Bumps, so having the bond pads along the edge is no longer a requirement. The pads can be placed anywhere on the die necessary, and the connections to the pins can be made through the package. Of course, heat dissapation is a different story.

Semi