CPU fabrication technologies still keeping up

Feb 24, 2015 15:18 GMT  ·  By

Mass production of 14nm central processing units was delayed by 6 to 9 months compared to when it was originally supposed to begin, but Intel claims that all issues have finally been resolved.

That means the company finally understands everything about the technology and can provide the best possible features of any 14nm processes out there: gate length, SRAM scaling, pitches, etc. are better than on TSMC or Samsung nodes.

Thus, Broadwell and Skylake chips should have all the perks that Intel can muster by the time they're all up and selling.

Normally, this would mean that 10nm processors would also be delayed by half a year or more, but that's not actually the case according to a reported statement during the International Solid State Circuits Conference.

Instead, Intel says that 10nm chip time to market will go up to 50% faster without sacrificing the assets inherent in it: EUV (Extreme Ultra Violet Lithography), III-V wafers, nanotubes, nanowires and even graphene support.

Intel will have to choose one of those last three to focus on for 10nm and beyond, but there is still time for that. 2.5 and 3D-based stacked DRAM is also a focus for the future.

Unfortunately, Intel still hasn't provided even the vaguest roadmap for 10nm development and release, so its promises that development is on track don't ultimately tell us much of anything.