Don't cut the R&D budget

摘要

As the industry gears up for the 65-nanometer node over the next few years, researchers are already focusing on the 45-nm node's process technology. Even while the industry grapples with what seems to be an inventory correction, it appears more critical than ever that R&D budgets be spared. Not surprisingly, perhaps, the 45-nm node looks to be chock-full of assorted technical issues, chief among them the integration of a seemingly ever expanding list of new materials. As the industry gets further along in the deep submicron era, capabilities such as porous low-k films, high-k materials, and metal gates may not just be wishful thinking but a necessity if IC performance is going to continue to scale. By comparison, the switch from aluminum to copper interconnects, although fraught with issues and false starts, promises to look like a cakewalk in retrospect.