BIOS: Technology Means Business

NEC Electronics America, Inc. has announced to the Americas’ markets the industry’s first 55-nanometer (nm) standard CMOS process technology, UX7LS, that will be used to produce next-generation systems on chips (SoCs) with ultra-low power consumption.

A shrink version of NEC Electronics’ 65 nm technology, the UX7LS process enables SoCs to consume less power and achieve the same performance as 45 nm-based devices.

Combined with NEC Electronics’ UltimateLowPower technology, UX7LS successfully reduces power consumption in standby mode to approximately one-tenth of conventional 65nm devices, and also boosts the transistor’s on-current by 20 to 30 per cent.

These ratings were achieved through NEC Electronics’ new low-power CMOS transistor technology that uses a hafnium-silicate film as a high-dielectric-constant (high-k) insulator film.

UX7LS inherited the ‘on-grid design-ruled design for manufacturing (DFM) scheme’ from the previous 65 nm generation, and adopted immersion lithography technology for minituriasation, which can reduce SRAM size to 0.446 square micrometers and enable a smooth migration path from 65nm technology.

The new process will support NEC Electronics’ unique CMOS-compatible embedded DRAM technology and also be applied to SoCs designed for a broad range of future products-from mobile equipment to digital consumer devices.

“The industry’s demand for faster and lower-power devices continues to increase and is driving the current push to develop microfabrication technology,” said Kazu Yamada, vice president, custom SoC solutions strategic business unit, NEC Electronics America.

“With our new process technology, SoC designers will be able to reduce power consumption and costs through device miniaturization compared to conventional 65nm transistors. The advancements achieved by our UX7LS technology mark another milestone in our continuing effort to pioneer the design and development of revolutionary process technologies to meet ever-changing market demands.”

Shipping of engineering samples based on the UX7LS technology is expected to begin in the summer of 2007, and mass production is expected in the same year. (Availability is subject to change.) More information about NEC Electronics’ advanced process technology can be found at www.am.necel.com/process.

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