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News TSMC 40nm problems ‘have been solved’ – sources

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by Tim S, 3 Jun 2009.

  1. Tim S

    Tim S OG

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  2. docodine

    docodine killed a guy once

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    What's a normal yield %? Can the wasted chips be recycled?
     
  3. iwod

    iwod What's a Dremel?

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    20% is very bad. Even considering it is a new node. Last time i heard Intel managed over 80% Yield. Although that is an mature node. 30 - 40% would be an acceptable level.
     
  4. perplekks45

    perplekks45 LIKE AN ANIMAL!

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    Can I have some of the wasted chips? Given the 20% yield there should be more than enough use them instead of wallpaper. :D
     
  5. Paradigm Shifter

    Paradigm Shifter de nihilo nihil fit

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    I want a few dead chips to make keychains with. :D
     
  6. wyx087

    wyx087 Homeworld 3 is happening!!

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    what i thought, i want some high-tech keychains.

    possibly custome made, a GPU die inside with the other side spelling my name. :)
     
  7. Adnoctum

    Adnoctum Kill_All_Humans

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    Soldered to a PCB etched with my details = Unique/memorable business cards.
     
  8. OWNED66

    OWNED66 What's a Dremel?

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    I heard nvidia is selling 9xxx gpu key chains on their site for 9.99 i think
     
  9. nicae

    nicae What's a Dremel?

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    wafers are awesome to look at, but chip keychains are a tad too geeky IMHO :\

    as for bad chips, AFAIK IBM recycles their dead chips by messing up the printed ICs and then sending them over to something like solar cell manufacurers or something like that.
     
  10. Adnoctum

    Adnoctum Kill_All_Humans

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    They have to do something with all those defective G84/G86 GPUs!
     
  11. Skiddywinks

    Skiddywinks Minimodder

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    Glad to know that the problems will be solved for the next range of chips. Question is, will nVidia benefit from the issues ATI has had to fix?
     
  12. alwayssts

    alwayssts What's a Dremel?

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    Wouldn't 'later this quarter' mean 'by end of June'? They obviously already like the silicon, so if you figure the normal three month ramp time after the process is fixed, we'd be looking at end of September through beginning of October. Either way, it seems they have already made some chips, and even with crappy yields are moving forward with production.

    The "dx11 - sooner than you think" must mean (roughly translated) "As soon as we can get the damn process to spit out satisfactory yields...and certainly before the launch of Windows 7".

    Even more telling is that AMD's motto is to refresh their lineup every six months. Rv790 hit shelves beginning of April.

    What this says to me is that it will be released in October, if not slightly earlier.



    Yes and no. No doubt nvidia has been going through the same things, and has to release all these 40nm dx10.1 mobile parts during the same bind AMD has had with Rv740. Surely the fixed process will help, but the question must be begged: If rv740 is a 137mm2 chip, and is getting < 20% yields, what will the fixed process yield? Twice that? Three times that?

    We know G300 is literally 3x that size. I forget the rule-of-thumb yield formula, but that cannot be good.

    So, to answer your question: Yes, they will reap what AMD has sewn because AMD actually produced a realistically-sized chip for the new process. Where-as before I couldn't see G300 actually being able to go to retail, the fixed process may bring it in to at least G200 territory. The punishment of course is that the chips, even now on a fixed process, will take a while to accumulate, putting them double behind AMD in time-to-market. I believe AMD created rv870 with the new process problems in mind - They knew even with crappy yields that rv870 could launch by the time windows 7 does because it was small and taped out early. A fixed process is gravy in time to market. Nvidia did not take these precautions with their dx11 part.
     
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