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[Matisaro]

Cutting aluminum or copper does not take place in fabs, it has no bearing at all lol.

We dont weld [-peep-] together to make ics, trust me on that.


However kelledin is right on about the burning/melting thing, vapor deposistion and sputtering are the current ways of getting metal layers down, both of which produce very toxic gasses, so neither is a disadvantage(cu versus aluminum)

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[thelastguardian]

but you dont think that will add to the cost of amd buying copper?

I know what you did last summer when you install amd, and now its time for punishment!! -Intel

 

[castle]

1. Copper is deposited by electroplating.
2. Copper killes transistors easily so additional segregation layers have to be put in the device, and fab needs dedicated copper tools to avoid comtamination. Given those facts plus the higher cost of copper than aluminum, copper device costs higher to make. There is no doubt.
3. Whether or not to use copper interconnection, the company needs to consider the trade off: higher cost or higher performance. SOI is exactly same case. The benefits from those two are not comparable to switching 0.13 from 0.18.

 

[FatBurger]

Cutting aluminum or copper does not take place in fabs, it has no bearing at all lol.

Works for me, just throwing out an explanation for why something softer might be harder to cut.

<font color=blue>Hi mom!</font color=blue>

 

[Kemche]

Thanks castle. Good explanation.

Do you know if copper would produce less heat then Aluminum?

KG

"640K ought to be enough for anybody." - Bill Gates.

 

[Matisaro]

2: Copper yields as well as aluminum, see here.

<A HREF="http://www.xilinx.com/prs_rls/copperqa.htm" target="_new">http://www.xilinx.com/prs_rls/copperqa.htm</A>

Q. What are the yield differences between wafers with copper interconnect and aluminum interconnect?
UMC copper based wafers are experiencing yields equivalent to aluminum-based wafers.

Copper is a dirty process when your fab also uses alum lines, but dresden is 100% copper, hence the contamination issues are lessened.

3> IN the long run copper comes out to be cheaper, the same can be said for ANY new tool(it has a high inital outlay and in the long run money is saved) so one being cheaper than the other is a subjective thing.

Q. What are the price differences between FPGAs with copper interconnect and aluminum interconnect?
Virtex-EM will not be priced higher due to using copper interconnect. Long-term, copper technology should offer economies over wafers processed with aluminum.

(from same link above).



Also, copper CAN be put on with cvd as evidenced by <A HREF="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&q=copper++CVD" target="_new">this</A>.




interesting reading on the technology race between amd and intel(which is what this whole thread is about)

<A HREF="http://www.siliconstrategies.com/story/OEG20011211S0047" target="_new">http://www.siliconstrategies.com/story/OEG20011211S0047</A>


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[castle]

Both the bulk and sheet resistance of copper are much low that aluminum, so passing same amount of current through copper wire will definitely generate less heat. This is assuming using copper and aluminum wire of same thickness. I am not sure if either company actually uses thinner wire after converting to copper, so I donot know if we do get that benefit. Supposedly yes.

 

[Matisaro]

Yes copper produces less heat than aluminum.

The Cash Left In My Pocket,The BEST Benchmark

 

[bront]

In addition to lower resistance, copper also sheds heat better, so it would have trouble staying too warm, so it's cooler in several ways.

"Search your feelings you know it to be true, I am your... twin sister" - Darth Vader

 

[Matisaro]

Another benifit of copper ics are they resist electromigration much better than alum, so the chips have a longer lifespan.

The Cash Left In My Pocket,The BEST Benchmark

 

[xxsk8er101xx]

well i have a pentium PRO 200mhz ? i never use it i just have it heheh.

do what some people do, upgrade a ta little bit at a time. Like for now just buy the motherboard, cpu and ram . which should be no more than 200 bucks. Then buy a new case. Make sure you get something good. I recomend enlight cases for cheap and reliablity. so 300 bucks and you got a new computer practicly .. and then later add a new video card, hard drive etc etc ... just an idea. You don't have to buy everything at once.

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=9933" target="_new"> My Rig </A>

 

[Guest]

Copper has two characteristics over aluminum. One it has a Significantly lower Resistance. And at the same time I also has a LARGER current carrying compacity.

The resistance is a heat producer. but the current carrying compacity affects how much current it can carry.
in any given cross section.

The only Metal with a lower resistance is Silver. (but has corrosion issues worse than copper, not to mention it is much more expensive to use on the entire chip)

after that would be super conductors that have no resistance but have less current carrying compacity in the same area.

So Copper has a lower resistance and it also has a higher current carrying compacity in the same area. Aluminum has higher resistance and a lower current carrying compacity.
As the Dies continue to shrink and the interconnect continue to shrink. Aluminum became a hinderance in electron flow between transistors. It was also a source for heat. Because of it's lower current carrying compacity, a larger aluminum path was needed to carry the same amount of electrons. Which also made the interconnect stack larger than desirable.

el

 

[bront]

Plus, with recycling, you're not going to get a copper trace path with a Pepsi logo on it

"Search your feelings you know it to be true, I am your... twin sister" - Darth Vader