Intel Corp (INTC)

[SemiconEng]

AMD Qualifies Production of 65nm Logic on 300mm Wafers.

Is it just me, or does AMD sound even further behind with 65nm? There's still no mention of 65nm prototype CPUs, just some vague references to factory qualification and yields of SRAM product. You would think they would brag a little more if they had anything to brag about.


AMD BRAG?????? How could you think such a thing? But you're right. If they had anything of substance to brag about, they would. The fact that they aren't, tells me something.

In any case, The title of the story is misleading. When speaking about 65nm SRAM yields, it appears that those yields are in Fishkill, not in Fab36. Also, there is a big difference between qualifying your Fab36 tools, and "Qualifying Production" at Fab36. The important part of their statement concerning the status of Fab36 was this: "“We are qualifying equipment as we speak." Qualifying equipment, and running production, are 2 very different things.

Just because AMD is running SRAM in Fishkill, doesn't mean it will run in Fab36. FYI, what qualifying equipment means, is that the equipment has been installed, and plumbed for Chemicals and Electricity, and then you start "qualifying" the equipment, to make sure that the equipment is able to meet the equipment suppliers targets. Testing is done to make sure that the equipment processes the correct number of wafers, that, for example an etcher, is etching materials at the required rate, that the polishers are removing the amount of material at the rate the vendor says it can, etc etc etc., but that's quite a ways away from producing anything. When I started up my last Fab, there was tons of work that needed to be done to bring the Fab from "qualifying equipment" to "Production Ready".

IMO, I believe AMD will begin running short loop test wafers in Fab36 in the middle of 2005 (IAW his "begin to process 65nm in the middle of 2005" statement). That doesn't mean that everything will go smoothly with the "Equipment Qualifications" between now and then, and it doesn't mean that any of those short loops will come out good. But, ASSUMING things go right, most likely, there won't be any production at all out of the Fab until "some time" in 2006. Shoot, if AMD even gets 1 "Volume Production" wafer, into the line by Dec 31, 2006, That would still make their "Be in volume production in 2006" statement true, now wouldn't it