Press Release: AMD Announces World's Fastest CMOS Transistors
Posted By Kathy Smith
Date: December 3, 2001
Details of Technology Breakthrough To Be Presented At
Prestigious Forum.
SUNNYVALE, CA-DECEMBER 3,
2001- AMD (NYSE: AMD) announced today it has built
a Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) transistor that achieves the
fastest switching speeds yet reported in the semiconductor industry. The company
has developed a device with a 15-nanometer gate length (0.015 micron), a
prototype for the transistors that it plans to use to power future generations
of microprocessors.
This latest milestone from AMD heralds the capability for a twenty-fold increase
in the number of transistors per chip and a ten-fold increase in microprocessor
performance by the end of the decade. AMD will disclose its research in a paper
to be presented in Washington D.C. on December 4 at the 2001 International
Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM), one of the world's leading conferences for
semiconductor engineers and scientists.
AMD's 15-nm device is a prototype that is key to the development of AMD's
30-nanometer process generation, which the company plans to have in production
by approximately 2009. On AMD's roadmap, the 30-nm (0.03-micron) technology will
make use of 300-mm wafers.
"Our ongoing research allows us to stay on the forefront of transistor design,
which translates into increasingly powerful processors. Transistor technology is
the 'engine' that powers our high-performance microprocessors. That's why AMD
continues to devote significant R&D resources to ensure that our transistor
technology is world class," said Dr. Craig Sander, vice president of AMD's
technology development group.
The 15-nm transistor, devised in AMD's Submicron Development Center, is a CMOS-based,
0.8-Volt device, designed to handle switching speeds of 0.3-ps, or 3.33 trillion
switches per second. The development of the 15-nm transistor is a powerful
indicator that transistor scaling will continue unabated for many years to come.
"The work to develop this transistor is a vital part of AMD's overall transistor
development effort," said Sander. "This look-ahead research gives us confidence
in our long-term roadmaps and strategies, while providing spin-off technology
that feeds our near-term development program. We are proud to be the first
company in our industry to publicly present data demonstrating these
capabilities."
About AMD
AMD is a global supplier of integrated circuits for the personal and networked
computer and communications markets with manufacturing facilities in the United
States, Europe, Japan, and Asia. AMD, a Fortune 500 and Standard & Poor's 500
company, produces microprocessors, flash memory devices, and support circuitry
for communications and networking applications.
Founded in 1969 and based in Sunnyvale, California, AMD had revenues of $4.6
billion in 2000. (NYSE: AMD).
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AMD, the AMD Arrow logo and combinations thereof are trademarks of Advanced
Micro Devices, Inc.
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Contact
Rob Lallier
AMD Public Relations
Phone: (512) 602 2946
E-mail: rob.lallier@amd.com
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