Intel (Santa Clara, Calif.), for one, is attempting to push the industry towards 450-mm fabs in the 2012 time frame or beyond. As reported, with backing from Intel, chip-making consortium Sematech is devising a plan that will take a more direct path to 450-mm fabs in the future.Source: EE Times
But Sematech's recent unveiling of the controversial plan to hasten the industry's move to 450-mm wafers has driven a wedge between the semiconductor equipment community and some chip makers, rekindling the debate over who will fund the development of next-generation fab tools--or whether the shift should in fact proceed at all.
However, in an interview at the company's 45-nm processor launch last week, Otellini said Intel is still "very interested" in moving towards 450-mm fabs as a means to stay on the chip-production cost curve.
Intel, he said, has not set a timetable for the next-generation wafer size. But he said the company would like to work with -- and not against -- the IC-equipment industry in the 450-mm arena. "We have to do it in concert with the equipment industry," he told EE Times.
Intel starts pushing 450mm wafers
Posted on Tuesday, November 20 2007 @ 3:05 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck