Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD)

[CombJelly]

RE: SOI question.

Based on what I know, which isn't a whole lot, I would suspect that any SOI process problems were in one of two areas, possibly problems in both. There might have been problems with the low-k dielectric. This has been a problem for everybody at 130nm, except for Intel who didn't use one. AMD had originally announced they were going to use Black Diamond, dunno if that is still the case. The other potential problem is the "floating body" effect. Becauze the SOI substrate is an insulator, a charge can build up in there. The net result is that signals can be slowed if it isn't compesated for. IBM claims to know in detail how to do that, hence the help that AMD got from them in November points to this as an issue. Now if a company gets a handle on how to deal with it, the "floating body" effect can be quite useful, there are a couple of groups who use it for very small and fast memory cells...