Replies to post #10526 on Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD)

[Elmer Phud]

Keith - 300mm wafers cost 10X a 200mm wafer???? I don't believe it.

[SemiconEng]

Prices for 300-mm wafers remain too high, says analyst
http://www.siliconstrategies.com/story/OEG20030620S0020

A bit of a late reply, was away for some time, just thought this article would be worth discussing. While 300mm is definitely the way to go in the future, AMD being limited to 200 mm might not be much of a disadvantage at this point in time.
Keith


A 300mm wafer cost 10 times as much? So what. A bare silicon 200mm wafer goes for about $50.00. That makes a bare silicon 300mm wafer $500.00. With the yield and output number increases described below, it still seems to make sense for a high volume manufacturer. If you're a high volume manufacturer like intel, the cost benifits look a bit different. I guess that depends on how many die you're making, and whether you get a volume discount on buying more wafers....

Maybe, if you're taking into account the relatively low volume of chips manufactured by AMD, maybe it doesn't make sense. Of course, if you don't have any 300mm equipment, or you've been consistantly losing money, or you had to go begging somebody else to make your chips, then yeah, I agree, you may not be able to do it. But to say "it's not much of a disadvantage" to not to be able to increase yields, and increase throughput..... While Reducing Facility Costs........ I don't buy it.


http://www.intel.com/research/silicon/wafers.htm
Cost Benefits of 300 mm Wafers
The primary cost benefit is the ratio of die yeild per 300 mm wafer to die yield per 200 mm wafer. The yield improvement ranges from 2.25X for small die to 2.5X for larger die. The next cost benefit is quantity of output. The output of a 300 mm factory is 1.6-2.2X that of a 200 mm factory producing the same product. The output ratio also reduces the impact of the facility cost on product. A 300 mm factory will cost close to the same as a 200 mm factory but the product output is higher. The die and output scalars are the key drivers that provide an opportunity to achieve a 30% cost reduction for product made with 300 mm wafers.

Semi

[sgolds]

KeithDust2000, I wonder if Intel pays ten times the price of a 200-mm wafer yet delivering only 2.4 times the total area. Somehow I suspect they've locked in a more favorable contract (as they are, by far, the largest user of this material). However, they probably are paying more per square centimeter than for 200mm, and who knows for what yield?