Jan

31

NTU carves a niche in RFIC research

Filed Under Analog and RFIC, Educational, Emerging Technology, Movers and Shakers, Video Gallery | Leave a Comment

aRFIC

The Center of Integrated Circuits and Systems (CICS) from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) has won an private funding of $9 million from Advanced RFIC (aRfic) Pte Ltd. This is a significant sum of private funding for a Singapore-based University which traditionally relies mainly on state funding for its research projects. The investment is also an testimony of NTU increasingly prominent research in RFIC. Among the numerous success stories last year, two notable achievements from CICS are:

  • The World’s smallest On-chip transformer led by Professor Do Manh Anh
  • Antenna-in-Package (AiP) technology developed by Professor Y.P. Zhang. This unique technology combines an antenna with a single-chip radio transceiver die into a standard surface mounted device

I was honored to do a mini project as a requirement of MSc (IC Design) degree on RF switch design under the supervision of Prof Zhang in 2002. I am truly impressed by Prof Zhang series of innovations in the area of antenna and radio, such as intra-chip interconnect communication system. To know more about the AiP technology, watch the following video.

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Jan

29

The Biggest Computer Chip Breakthrough in 40 years

Filed Under Emerging Technology, Microprocessor, Movers and Shakers, Video Gallery | Leave a Comment

Intel's 45nm Peryn Die

Consumers will be able to use Intel microprocessors made with hundred and millions of high-k gate dielectric+dual-metal gates in the 2nd half of 2007. The 45nm processors will be codenamed as “Penryn”. Intel announced this earth-shaking news over the weekend. In Intel’s Press release, they claim

In one of the biggest advancements in fundamental transistor design, Intel Corporation today revealed that it is using two dramatically new materials to build the insulating walls and switching gates of its 45 nanometer (nm) transistors.

The announcement is very typical of Intel style. They usually keep mum of what they are working on. In the last IEDM in Dec 2006, although they did drop some hints that they were going to announce something big, frankly nobody actually expects that they are going to use high-k gate dielectric+dual-metal gates in their 45nm transistors. This is still beyond common sense considering the fact there are still quite a number of integration and reliability hurdles in using the two “exotic” materials. Not too long ago, most people are still pessimistic that high-k dielectric and metal gates will be inserted into 45nm technology. However, Intel has just proved everybody wrong and changed the history. Intel does not give much details on their high-k gate dielectric and metal gate, for example what is their dual-metal gate integration scheme. The announcement is kind of embarrassment to IBM which claims they have close the technology gap with Intel. It seems that IBM is still some way to catch up.

Below showing two videos on Intel 45nm. In the first video, Intel Senior Fellow, Mark Bohr, gave a tour of Intel’s newest 45 nanometer fab at Hillsboro, Oregon. It is a fab with a clean-room space equivalent to 3.5 football fields. Two new 45nm fabs are also rolling out soon. In the second video, Intel 45nm device group manager, Kelin Kuhn, briefly introduced Intel’s most important test labs where the 45nm transistors are measured.

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