Only months after 45'nm started rolling, the foundries are vying for control of the 32nm generation. JUST SIX MONTHS since a group of chipmakers claimed that it had put into production the most advanced processes yet for making integrated circuits, a number of the group are already talking about the next big step: doubling the density of chips by shifting from 45nm to 32nm. If, as is so often claimed, the end of Moore's Law is in sight, nobody has told these people. It's a symptom of the way that demand to keep doubling chip density every 24 months has put pressure on the manufacturing side of integrated electronics to keep rolling out new processes on a strict two-year cycle. Whereas there used to be other ways to get that doubling, designers are really only left now with what process advances can give them (ET, 24 January).
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