Toshiba and Sony are close to beginning trial production of
semiconductor chips using a manufacturing process more advanced
than any in commercial use today, according to official
The technology is capable of making chips with features as small
as 65 nanometers and its development is vital for Sony to produce
its planned Cell microprocessor. The chip, which it is developing
with Toshiba and IBM Corp., is expected to form the heart of its
future PlayStation 3 games console and other digital consumer
electronics products, but current production technologies are not
yet sufficiently advanced to manufacture it in large quantities.
A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter and chip production
technology is typically described by the smallest resolution
possible. As the resolution gets finer, more components can be
crammed onto a chip's surface and that leads to more powerful
chips that consume less power.
Toshiba's trial production of sample chips using the 65-nanometer
technology will begin in March 2004, said Junichi Nagaki, a
spokesman for Toshiba in Tokyo. At that time, the company will
turn out system LSI (large scale integrated circuit) chips on a
trial line at its Yokohama, Japan, factory and supply them to its
customers for evaluation purposes, said the spokesman.
Commercial production of chips using the technology is not
expected to begin until the first half of Toshiba's 2005 fiscal
year, which is the period from April to September 2005, he said.
The base for that production is planned to be a new factory
currently under construction at Toshiba's plant in Oita
prefecture, Japan. Construction is scheduled to end in January
2004 and initial production on a 90-nanometer process is to begin
in the middle of 2004 after which it will be upgraded to handle
the 65-nanometer process. The plant will process 300-millimeter
The system LSI chips, while falling short of a prototype of the
Cell processor, amount to one of the first steps that Sony needs
to take towards eventual mass production of the chip.
The trial production plans comes as many semiconductor companies
are still in the midst of upgrading from 130-nanometer generation
technology to the latest 90-nanometer technology.