Intel show off their latest
10nm cpu. My question is from my own research(googling). There is a news about their 10nm "
are nowhere near viable for “full production”. this news is about 4 weeks ago. Did Intel fixed their 10nm yield problem or Notebook Check is wrong?
Daniel Payne is correct, yield is a forbidden subject. We generally find out about yield problems after the fact. There was however an interesting presentation at IEDM last month:
41.2. Intel's take on design-technology co-optimization (DTCO)
Over half of the discussion was bemoaning the fact that EUV was "really, really late". It meant that they had to re-design for more restrictive design rules -- e.g., unidirectional low-level metal layers. They showed pictures of rather intricate M1 wires in custom circuit layouts assuming that EUV would be ready for 10nm, layouts that could not be resolved easily with 193i litho. So, they had to split the layouts into two unidirectional metal layers.
After they were done complaining about the availability of EUV, they finally mentioned that "we have started pursuing cell designs consistent with first-generation EUV based on some DTCO simulations, and are planning on High Aperture EUV in the near future". HA EUV is not really near however (2025?).
OK, perhaps they were relying too heavily on ASML, who were late delivering on production EUV. And, perhaps they should have taken a more prudent approach toward EUV like TSMC (although TSMC's customers primarily use cell libraries, and do not rely extensively on custom cell layout.
Bottom line: The very aggressive goals for Intel's 10nm process came back to haunt them...