Intel income pain not as deep as feared

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You obviously don't understand semi processes

There you go. No need to clear off the line, retool and then start new lots for a different product. This is way beyond what others, including Intel, have right now.

Nobody "clears off the line." Sheesh, if that were necessary TSMC couldn't produce anything at all.

The way it works is that you start a lot of product (usually a dozen or so wafers) along with a flow sheet. The flow sheet specifies masks and process steps to be used. Those are the only things that distinguish the products.

If you have good process controls in place (as AMD describes) you can run an engineering lot through in the same queue as your production lots, and you can even specify process tweaks ("push the Vt to the fast side, please") without borking the process for the production lots before and after it.

What you can't do is start a lot of microprocessors, process them through the first 15 masks and process steps, then turn them into network chips. That would be like taking a load of steel, starting to make engines out of it, and then making fenders instead -- all without scrapping the blocks.

Posted by: Yagotta B. Kidding   Posted on: 07/20/06 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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