SCIENCE

TOKYO, JAPAN -- NEC Corporation (Nasdaq: NIPNY; FTSE: 6701q.l) and its semiconductor affiliates in the United States, NEC Electronics Inc., today announced they have completed development of a 0.10-micron (Lgate = 65 nm, VDD = 1.0 V) basic process module for driving next-generation Internet servers, digital consumer electronics, mobile telephones, and trunk transmission equipment. The UX6 process technology provides 1.0-volt (V) transistor operation and super-fine 65 nm gates to meet the broad spectrum of requirements from ultra-high performance to low power consumption. With UX6, NEC has adopted a newly developed silicon oxy-nitride film formation process to avoid negative effects on power consumption and reliability caused by the leakage current from thinner gate dielectric film, achieving a nearly double-figure decrease in the gate leakage current of its high-speed transistors. At the same time, further optimizing the gate dielectric film has made it possible to increase the speed of its low gate leakage transistors. NEC has also employed a low-k inter-metal dielectric film (k< 2.4) using a new material to lower the capacitance between the wires and push clock speeds above 1 gigahertz (GHz). NEC offers four core transistor types (ultra-high speed, high speed, standard and low leakage current) to enable sophisticated speed and power management over a wide range of applications. The ultra-high-speed and high-speed transistors provide top-level performance; standard transistors offer IP tailoring to suit customers' needs; and low leakage transistors employ triple-oxide technology to minimize the leakage current. NEC also applies state-of-the-art ArF technology in critical photolithography steps. NEC is currently engaged in further enhancing technological support for the signal integrity issues that occur with increased LSI density and complexity and is focusing on the development of process-linked design technology. Recent attention on broadband applications is encouraging chipmakers to produce higher pin-count packages. NEC's response is the development of high-speed, high-pin-count packages (exceeding 2000 pins). Customers with applications in the mobile field also have their low-power needs met by NEC's ultra-power-efficient system LSIs featuring enhanced power management technology. NEC and TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.) have jointly set the common target for the 0.1um-generation design rules, high-speed and standard transistor characteristics giving customers immediate access to IP cores proven at both companies. Through this arrangement NEC also hopes to accelerate the circulation and standardization of IP cores, which is essential for System LSI design and improve its future foundry efficiency with TSMC. NEC aims to start receiving orders for the system LSI design base CB-100, a UX6 platform that integrates signal integrity support, high-speed wide-band and low-power-consumption technologies, beginning in the first quarter of 2003. For further information visit http://www.nec.com