Qualcomm and its foundry partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company are focusing on 28 nanometer (nm) process technology as a means to enable more features to be integrated into smaller chips with a high level of cost efficiency. Small form factor and low power consumption are important features of Qualcomm’s next generation of system-on-a-chip (SoC) solutions, including the Snapdragon chipset platform. The two companies are capitalizing on their long-term relationship as Qualcomm works on migrating directly from the 45nm to the 28nm node.
The new 28 nm technology offers up to twice the density of previous manufacturing nodes, Qualcomm and TSMC are working on both high-k metal gate (HKMG) 28HP and silicon oxynitride (SiON) 28LP technologies. Qualcomm expects to tape out its first commercial 28nm products in mid-2010.
Previously, Qualcomm and TSMC worked closely on 65nm and 45nm technologies. They are continuing their relationship into low-power, low-leakage 28nm designs for high-volume manufacturing. http://www.qualcomm.com
