Friday, February 12, 2010
DRAM chipmaker Nanya Technology Corp. recently announced that the firm and its subsidiary Inotera Memory Inc. have readied 42-nanometer process on their production lines, and will deliver chips completed with the process for verifications sometime in the second quarter of the year.
Nanya and Inotera, both under the Formosa Plastics Group umbrella, are reportedly Taiwan`s first DRAM chipmakers to ready 42nm process technology, which may help reduce the two chipmakers` costs by 30% relative to production with 50nm process. Currently, the two firms are using 50nm process to crank out most of their chips.
Inotera President Charles Kao pointed out the 42nm copper-interconnect process co-developed by Nanya, Inotera and Micron Technology Corp. will help shorten technology lag of Taiwan`s DRAM industry to nine months behind South Korea`s and Japan`s DRAM industry from one year.
Nanya`s spokesman, P.L. Pai, said Nanya and Inotera will use 42nm process to produce 2GB double data rate 3(DDR3) DRAM chips. The cutting-edge process, he added, is an ideal solution for building lower power-consumption, higher-efficiency and larger-capacity circuits on smaller chip dies than last-generation process technologies.
Pai noted that copper-interconnect process performs higher reliability and better extension than aluminum-interconnect process does.
The two companies will begin to send chips using the process for verifications at customers in the second quarter in preparation for volume production in the second half this year. As soon as the two chipmakers begin the volume production, they will start to develop 30nm process.
Nanya and Inotera plan to spend NT$19 billion (US$593 million at US$1:NT$32) and NT$52 billion (US$1.6 billion) on advanced process tools this year, respectively.
By: DocMemory
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