Niso Levitas · 03-06-2002 · Category: Interviews

CODENAME PRESCOTT

They always show 1,5 or 2 times faster frequency processor than the fastest one currently on the market every year. It is like a tradition for IDF that we always expect this on their morning keynote sessions. Their 90 nm (0.09 micron) 4.0 MHz Processor codenamed Prescott was this year's processor. Expectations were higher this year. Because we saw water-cooled or extremely air-cooled 3 GHz Northwood core Pentium 4's and even a 3.5 GHz liquid nitrogen cooled one. 90 nm processed Prescott, will be introduced to market in the second half of 2003.

Transistor density and wafer size changes dramatically lower the cost. The first changes will require unbelievably high investments but 180 nm to 130 nm process transitions doubled the transistor density, and 200 mm to 300 mm wafer size transition means 2.4 times more silicon area. So Intel quadrupled their output per factory. 90 nm changes will increase the output again. Hope this change will reflect in the pricing. They are planning to reduce this to 32 nm in year 2009.

Transistor gates will narrow down too. For Prescott, transistor gates will be 45 nm. They are planning 15 nm gates in 2009. They began to talk about terahertz. We may remember this when playing Quake 363 Arena at 3200x2048x48 resolution with FSAA 20 years later.

Contents

1. Technology: A Look 2 to 5 Years in the Future
2. 3GIO: A PCI Killer
3. BBUL (Bumpless Build-Up Layer) PACKAGING
4. CODENAME PRESCOTT
5. E7500 CHIPSET
6. Serial ATA