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Forums - Gaming - Silicon chips set to continue to dominate into next decade.

Conina on 11 July 2015
beeje13 said:

This could, at a stretch, give the chance for PS4 and Xbox One to have a second die shrinkage around 2018 and beyond, after the 20nm shrink I expect next year.

 

AMD is skipping 20nm: „The company started several product designs in 20nm that will instead transition to the leading-edge FinFET node.“

http://www.anandtech.com/show/9418/amd-confirms-20nm-products-moved-to-finfet-warns-on-q215-earnings



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fatslob-:O on 11 July 2015

I still don't think we'll be seeing 7nm half pitch yet until at least well into 2020 ...

IBM is been overly optimistic about the delivery since we're still not certain if EUV will have enough source power to be ready for HVM ...



Conina on 11 July 2015
beeje13 said:

IBM indicated that new chips would be in consumer devices from 2017-18.

I really wonder where the BBC is getting this information. In their own source IBM declined to speculate on when it might begin commercial manufacturing:

"IBM also declined to speculate on when it might begin commercial manufacturing of this technology generation."

Maybe they mixed it up with the following sentences in their source:

"This year, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) said that it planned to begin pilot product of seven-nanometer chips in 2017. Unlike IBM, however, it has not demonstrated working chips to meet that goal."



beeje13 on 12 July 2015
Conina said:
beeje13 said:

This could, at a stretch, give the chance for PS4 and Xbox One to have a second die shrinkage around 2018 and beyond, after the 20nm shrink I expect next year.

 

AMD is skipping 20nm: „The company started several product designs in 20nm that will instead transition to the leading-edge FinFET node.“

http://www.anandtech.com/show/9418/amd-confirms-20nm-products-moved-to-finfet-warns-on-q215-earnings


Damn I need to read AnandTech more, but that's probably better news for the console refresh as the finfet (16nm I think?) will give a greater leap than 20nm.



PS, PS2, Gameboy Advance, PS3, PSP, PS4, Xbox One

HoloDust on 12 July 2015
Shadow1980 said:
I didn't know there were plans for CPU chips to be made from materials other than silicon to begin with. What's supposed to be the next big thing to replace it?


There are few, haven't been checking for some time, but, IIRC, Germanium and some Gallium compounds.



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Intrinsic on 12 July 2015
Shadow1980 said:
I didn't know there were plans for CPU chips to be made from materials other than silicon to begin with. What's supposed to be the next big thing to replace it?


Graphene. If you are referring to the "next big thing" to replace silicon. 



HoloDust on 12 July 2015
Intrinsic said:
Shadow1980 said:
I didn't know there were plans for CPU chips to be made from materials other than silicon to begin with. What's supposed to be the next big thing to replace it?


Graphene. If you are referring to the "next big thing" to replace silicon. 


Yeah, that would be next BIG thing...not that it seems we're anywhere near it for mass adoption.



HoloDust on 12 July 2015
Shadow1980 said:
HoloDust said:


There are few, haven't been checking for some time, but, IIRC, Germanium and some Gallium compounds.

Those elements are nowhere near as common as silicon, though, which is the second most abundant element in Earth's crust. What advantages would they have over silicon, and would their much lower abundance affect the price of computer chips?


Honestly, it's been a while since I've read anything on the matter (about a year or so), and it's not I'm really versed about it. I remember POET Technologies when it comes to GaAs, and lot of articles on Germanium and Silicon-Germanium.

I believe Fatslob-:O is more into matter, maybe he can chime in.



garretslarrity on 12 July 2015

Any word on how these will give off and handle heat?



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JEMC on 13 July 2015
HoloDust said:
Shadow1980 said:
HoloDust said:


There are few, haven't been checking for some time, but, IIRC, Germanium and some Gallium compounds.

Those elements are nowhere near as common as silicon, though, which is the second most abundant element in Earth's crust. What advantages would they have over silicon, and would their much lower abundance affect the price of computer chips?


Honestly, it's been a while since I've read anything on the matter (about a year or so), and it's not I'm really versed about it. I remember POET Technologies when it comes to GaAs, and lot of articles on Germanium and Silicon-Germanium.

I believe Fatslob-:O is more into matter, maybe he can chime in.

In the Arstechnica article about this story, there's a brief mention of why they have gone with it:

http://arstechnica.co.uk/gadgets/2015/07/ibm-unveils-industrys-first-7nm-chip-moving-beyond-silicon/

"Technologically, SiGe (silicon-germanium) and EUV are both very significant. SiGe has higher electron mobility than pure silicon, which makes it better suited for smaller transistors. The gap between two silicon nuclei is about 0.5nm; as the gate width gets ever smaller (about 7nm in this case), the channel becomes so small that the handful of silicon atoms can't carry enough current. By mixing some germanium into the channel, electron mobility increases, and adequate current can flow. Silicon generally runs into problems at sub-10nm nodes, and we can expect Intel and TSMC to follow a similar path to IBM, GlobalFoundries, and Samsung (aka the Common Platform alliance)."



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