SUNNYVALE, Calif. --- Researchers from Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) have made a transistor in fully depleted silicon-on-insulator (FD-SOI) manufacturing process technology that operates 30 percent faster than the best previously reported PMOS transistor, the company claimed today (April 2, 2003). The achievement is to be discussed at the VLSI Technology Symposium coming up June 10 through June 12 in Kyoto, Japan, the company added.
AMD did not disclose figures any frequencies or other figures of merit for the performance of the transistor, which is understood to be a 25-nanometer gate length device with silicon channel thickness of between 7-nm and 10-nm.
In related research, AMD researchers have demonstrated a strained silicon transistor achieving 20 to 25 percent higher performance than conventional strained silicon devices through the use of metal gates.
The company claimed that these are key achievements in enabling high-performance microprocessors to be made in the second-half of this decade.
"By staying at the forefront of research on transistors that operate with higher performance, less current leakage and lower voltage requirements, we are providing AMD design teams with the building blocks they need to create the solutions customers want," said Craig Sander, vice president of process technology development at AMD, in a statement.
