Technology Generations The concept of a technology generation emerged from analysis of historical records, was clearly defined by Gordon Moore in the 1960s, and codified as Moore's law. The current version of the law is that succeeding generations will support a four times increase in circuit complexity, and that new generations emerge at approximately 3-year intervals. The associated observations are that linear dimensions of device features change by a factor of 0.7, and the economically viable die size grows by a factor of 1.6. Minimum feature size stated in microns(micrometers) is the term used most frequently to label a technology generation. "Feature"refers to a geometric object in the mask set such as a linewidth or a gate length. The minimum feature" is the smallest dimension that can be reliably used to form the entity. Figure 25 1 displays the technology evolution sequence. In the diagram succeeding generations are numbered using the current generation as the 0"reference. Because this material was written in 1996, the0"generation is the 0.35 um mir feature size technology that began volume production in 1995 An individual device generation has been observed to have a reasonably well-defined life cycle which cover about 17 years. The first year of volume manufacture is the reference point for a generation, but ctually extends further in both directions. As shown in Fig. 25. 2, one can think of the stages of maturity as ranging over a linear scale which measures years to production in both the plus and minus directions. The 17-year life cycle of a single generation, with new generations being introduced at 3-year intervals, means that at any given time up to six generations are being worked on. This tends to blur the significance of research news and company announcements unless the reader is sensitive to the technology overlap in time. To visualize this situation, consider Fig. 25. 3. The top row lists calendar years. The second row shows how the life cycle of the 0. 35 um generation relates to the calendar. The third row shows the life cycle of the 0.25 um generation vs the calendar. Looking down any column corresponding to a specific calendar year, one can see which generations are active and identify their respective life cycle year. ation generation 1 generation 2 ge 3 generation 4 generation 5 035025018014 |005μ esearc FIGURE 25.1 Semiconductor technology generation time sequence INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT MANUFACTURING UNIVERSITY feasibility productization RESEARCH po|s8|6-1413121011234| FIGURE 25.2 Life cycle of a semiconductor technology generation. 99697989900010203040506070809101 345 -6-5|4 -9-8-7-6-5|4 2 1109876543-2|1001|234 -11-10-9-8-7-654-3-2|-1 FIGURE 25.3 Time overlap of semiconductor technology generations c 2000 by CRC Press LLC© 2000 by CRC Press LLC Technology Generations The concept of a technology generation emerged from analysis of historical records, was clearly defined by Gordon Moore in the 1960s, and codified as Moore’s law. The current version of the law is that succeeding generations will support a four times increase in circuit complexity, and that new generations emerge at approximately 3-year intervals. The associated observations are that linear dimensions of device features change by a factor of 0.7, and the economically viable die size grows by a factor of 1.6. Minimum feature size stated in microns (micrometers) is the term used most frequently to label a technology generation. “Feature” refers to a geometric object in the mask set such as a linewidth or a gate length. The “minimum feature” is the smallest dimension that can be reliably used to form the entity. Figure 25.1 displays the technology evolution sequence. In the diagram succeeding generations are numbered using the current generation as the “0” reference. Because this material was written in 1996, the “0” generation is the 0.35 mm minimum feature size technology that began volume production in 1995. An individual device generation has been observed to have a reasonably well-defined life cycle which covers about 17 years. The first year of volume manufacture is the reference point for a generation, but its lifetime actually extends further in both directions. As shown in Fig. 25.2, one can think of the stages of maturity as ranging over a linear scale which measures years to production in both the plus and minus directions. The 17-year life cycle of a single generation, with new generations being introduced at 3-year intervals, means that at any given time up to six generations are being worked on. This tends to blur the significance of research news and company announcements unless the reader is sensitive to the technology overlap in time. To visualize this situation, consider Fig. 25.3. The top row lists calendar years. The second row shows how the life cycle of the 0.35 mm generation relates to the calendar. The third row shows the life cycle of the 0.25 mm generation vs. the calendar. Looking down any column corresponding to a specific calendar year, one can see which generations are active and identify their respective life cycle year. FIGURE 25.1 Semiconductor technology generation time sequence. FIGURE 25.2 Life cycle of a semiconductor technology generation. FIGURE 25.3 Time overlap of semiconductor technology generations