Japan’s Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. said it will start shipping “system LSI devices” based on its 65-nm process at the end of October — or roughly two months ahead of schedule.
Matsushita (Tokyo) plans to ship the devices from its new 300-mm fab. The plant, which broke ground in June 2004, is located in the Toyama Prefecture in central Japan.
The company claims to be the first to ship mass-produced, 65-nm system LSIs for digital consumer electronics. The first 65-nm chips are DVD-related products, according to the company.
"After leading the digital home electronics market with our 0.13-micron process technology, we have further developed our nano-scale semiconductor technology at this new fab to accelerate realization of a ubiquitous networking society," said Susumu Koike, Matsushita's senior managing director in charge of technology and President of its Semiconductor Company, in a statement.
The new fab starts with a monthly output capacity of 6,500 wafers. The 65-nm process technology uses nickel silicide, resolution enhancement technology and copper interconnect to ensure stable production.
