Tech
Chip breakthrough for Motorola and Siemens
The semiconductor joint venture between Siemens and Motorola claims to have made a breakthrough in reducing memory chip production costs.
Semiconductor300 has produced 64Mbit DRAM chips using 300mm silicon wafers at its pilot plant in Germany. The process yields around 2.5 times more chips per wafer. This will enable both companies to cut DRAM production costs by 30 per cent, when compared with the current 200mm technology.
Motorola said it plans to use this technology in commercial production by 2001 at a new $3 billion manufacturing plant in Virginia in the US.