STC.UNM v. Intel Corporation

Filing 133

MARKMAN RESPONSE BRIEF re 110 Brief filed by STC. UNM. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit 3 - IEDM Article, # 2 Exhibit 4 - Semiconductor International Article, # 3 Exhibit 5 - 998 Response and Amendment 01141999, # 4 Exhibit 6 - 998 Response and Amendment 05181999, # 5 Exhibit 7 - Declaration of Dr. Chris Mack)(Pedersen, Steven)

Exhibit 4 
Intel Takes 45nm Process to IEDM, Shows Variability Data,  
Semiconductor International (December 7, 2007) 

Intel Takes 45 nm Process to IEDM, Shows Variability Data - 12/7/2007 6:35:00 AM - S... Page 1 of 3

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Intel Takes 45 nm Process to IEDM, Shows Variability Data
David Lammers, News Editor -- Semiconductor International, 12/7/2007 6:35:00 AM

At next week’s International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM), held in Washington, D.C., Intel Corp.
(Hillsboro, Ore.) researchers will discuss the company’s 45 nm gate-last process flow, which
includes trench contacts and a new level of thick “redistribution” interconnect. Intel will discuss the highk film dimensions, but not the material compositions.
“We will be describing for the first time the detailed process flow of how we create
these transistors,” said Kaizad Mistry, the 45 nm program manager at
Intel’s technology and manufacturing group.
Intel’s early introduction of high-k/metal gate (HKMG) technology is, as Mistry noted,
generating “a lot of buzz, but there are other aspects that tend to be overlooked.”

Kaizad Mistry,
45 nm program
Besides the HKMG stack, Intel’s 45 nm microprocessors include lead-free packaging
manager at
and a “a new type of interconnect layer, which we call a redistribution layer. It is very
Intel
thick, almost a package-like trace on the die,” Mistry said.

Intel's 45 nm transistor includes a
high-k metal gate (HKMG) stack.
Another major change involves replacing the cylindrical contacts with a trench-style contact, which
Mistry described as a long trench that can strap neighboring transistors together. “There are benefits in
terms of performance and layout density. The trench contact serves as a form of what you might say is
local interconnect. And in terms of patterning, it is easier to pattern lines and spaces than a field of
holes.”
Also, the silicon germanium regions used to create stress in the pFET transistors has been brought
much closer to the channel, enhancing strain, he said.
Variability improvements
Intel Fellow Kelin Kuhn, in an invited paper on variability, said she will present data
showing that, by employing guidelines on design rules and other architectural
changes, as well as process improvements, Intel has been able to keep variability in
check.

Kelin Kuhn,
Intel fellow

Despite fears that variability challenges would derail benefits from device scaling,
Kuhn said, “The key message is that as devices shrink, we can optimize layout and
design styles to keep variation constant, or even improve on it.”
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Intel Takes 45 nm Process to IEDM, Shows Variability Data - 12/7/2007 6:35:00 AM - S... Page 2 of 3

Introduction of the HKMG gate stack itself provided some relief, she added.
Also, Mike Mayberry, director of Intel’s components research organization, said the
use of double patterning at one critical layer also provided variability improvement
while keeping costs down by delaying the use of more expensive immersion
scanners.

Mike Mayberry,
director of
Intel's
components
research
organization

Speaking of Intel’s ability to control variability, Kuhn said, “To be very blunt, Intel may
be the only company left with integrated design and process within the same
organization, which allows us to do this sort of thing. The teamwork between process
and design allows us to pull off these kinds of improvements.”

Kuhn said one measure of Intel’s transistor variabity is gained by taking production
wafers off the line and sampling ring oscillators at many points in the die. By measuring two adjacent
ring oscillators, the difference is the level of variation.
In her presentation, Kuhn said she will show data over the past four technology generations, with 65 to
45 nm variability showing “significant improvement.” She said, “45 is looking almost as good as 130.”
By restricting design rules to keep poly lines running in a single direction and switching to a wider
SRAM architecture, Intel was able to push its SRAM feature size harder, Mistry said, adding that, “Many
times, these design changes are beneficial for patterning.”
The use of double patterning lithography helped square off the ends of the patterns, reducing rounded
ends (dogboning) and irregular shapes (icicles).
InGaAs transistors
Mayberry said Intel will report progress on building enhancement mode indium gallium arsenide
(InGaAs) quantum-well transistors on a silicon substrate. The research, to be presented by Intel
researcher Mantu Hudait, may be used in commercial products in the ~2015 time frame, as by then
transistor scaling may require new material introductions to keep performance and power improvements
on track.
The InGaAs transistor was built on a silicon substrate with a thin buffer layer about 1 µm thick and a set
of transition layers. The quantum-well device had a relatively large (compared with silicon) 80 nm gate
length, but a comparison with silicon devices shows a 10× reduction in power.
Mayberry said enhancement-mode devices present unique challenges, compared with depletion-mode
transistors, including developing a III-IV high-k solution, which would be different from the HKMG
technology used for silicon. PMOS transistors in III-V materials are difficult. And densities must be
optimized to be used in volume products.
“In order to take advantage of the power and performance of these III-V materials, there are a number
of things that need to be done for them to be manufacturable. The idea that size doesn’t matter is
nonsense. The reality is that a lot of functions depend on packing transistors into a small space,”
Mayberry said.
Intel is still considering whether the III-V transistors would resemble the tri-gate silicon transistors.
“Whether they are exactly like a tri-gate or something different, we don’t have the answer today, but we
are working on it,” Mayberry said.

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