SAN JOSE, Calif. — Possibly beating its rivals to the punch, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. claims that it has begun making chips, based on its new 45-nm process technology.
Within its fab in Japan, the company has developed the 45-nm process, thanks to 193-nm immersion lithography, stress-induced mobility-enhanced transistors, low-k dielectrics and design-for-manufacturability (DFM) technologies. The company has developed the process with Japan's Renesas Technology Corp.
When compared to the best conventional 65-nm process system LSIs, the new 45-nm process can reduce power consumption and required surface area by approximately two-thirds or a half, according to the company. The fab is located in Uozu, located in the Toyama Prefecture.
Matsushita (Osaka, Japan) has also recently developed a new line of so-called UniPhier system LSIs, which integrates AV data compression/decompression (codec) technology. The chips are based on 45-nm technology.
This next-generation UniPhier enables processing motion and still image data. The addition of an AV codec enables next-generation image data compression standards, such as H.264.
Matsushita is a bit player in the semiconductor industry. Most of its chips are developed for captive purposes.
Still, it may be one of the leaders in 45-nm technology. Others are also racing each other to ship devices based on 45-nm technology, such as IBM, Intel, TSMC, TI, UMC, among others.
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