Intel is optimistic that it will be able to mass produce chips using the 22nm process in two yeas from now, the company said in a press event in Japan on Thursday.
The company's technology outlook includes the transition to the 32nm manufacturing process later this year, with full scale production to be applied in 2010, the Japanese technology web site PC Watch reported on Thursday.
Intel uses a logic technology that incorporates second-generation high-k + metal gate technology, 193nm immersion lithography for critical patterning layers and enhanced transistor strain techniques. These features enhance the performance and energy efficiency of Intel processors. Intel's manufacturing process has the highest transistor performance and the highest transistor density of any reported 32nm technology in the industry, the company claims.
Intel also believes that the use of Hafnium-based high-k metal gate (Hi-k) formula and the use of Metal (gate electrode) - both already used in the 45nm process - will again be the key to the succesful transition to the advanced 22nm process in 2010.
Beyond that, Intel's roadmap includes the transition to the 22nm technology node in 2012, followed by the 16nm in 2014 and the 11nm process two years later.
Finishing the development phase for the company's 32nm process technology and production readiness in this timeframe means that Intel remains on pace with its ambitious product and manufacturing cadence referred to as the company's "tick-tock" strategy. That plan revolves around introducing an entirely new processor microarchitecture alternating with a cutting edge manufacturing process about every 12 months.
Source: CDRINFO
