14 DAY TRIAL // The last days have been filled with press releases regarding AMD's and IBM's future 45nm CPU. So it's a natural consequence the fact that many websites have dedicated a lot of space in an effort to detail a little this whole 45nm madness. And since I'm a trend addict, I guess I'll do the same.
Following the always-true Moore Law, I have to say that 45 nm CPUs will hit the stores hard during the summer of 2007. The first 45nm producer will nevertheless be INTEL, mainly because they're selling 65nm parts for about a year or so and they had sufficient time to switch some of the production lines to 45nm process. While AMD still lags behind, they've pushed a little harder this winter and they say that 45nm AMD's will emerge only 4-6 months later than INTEL's CPUs.
While INTEL has already shown that it has a functional 45nm design, AMD hasn't done that (yet). From what we can tell, they will use ultra-low-K interconnect dielectrics, which translate into low power consumption and shorter wiring delay. First SRAM prototype cells point to a speed jump of about 15%.
Deep ultraviolet lithography will be further developed in order to produce 45nm parts. The next-generation CPUs will be manufactured using 193 nm immersion lithography which uses a transparent "liquid," instead of regular water, to fill the space between the projection lens of the step-and-repeat lithography system and the current used wafer. The technology has been developed with the help of IBM. A new form of lithography called EUV (Extreme Ultra Violet) is said to eventually replace DUV. EUV will be based on 100nm immersion lithography and will probably be used to develop 32nm CPUs.