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Eug Wanker · May 12, 2004, 03:32 PM

IBM says chip woes easing

In presentation materials for a conference call, IBM said that the rate of defects it is seeing from its 300-millimeter manufacturing lines is steadily declining and getting closer to the company's target.

"We are getting much closer to where we want to be," IBM said in its materials, which the company filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in preparation for a conference call scheduled for later Wednesday.

Big Blue reiterated that it is getting the expected number of good chips from its 200-millimeter lines but said that yields from the 300-millimeter lines, while improving, "are not yet where we want them to be."

Just in time for WWDC...

Lateralus · May 12, 2004, 03:46 PM

Great news.

Stephen.S. · May 12, 2004, 08:11 PM

I'm not sure how good this news is since the G5 is made from 300mm wafers, and IBM says that while yields are improving, "are not yet where we want them to be."

In any case, an improvement is an improvement. Hopefully, Big Blue will have this ironed out in short order.

MrPopman · May 12, 2004, 08:12 PM

Those series of statements really doesn't tell you anything, except they are not ready to go into full scale production and you don't know when they will be. When they step up and say "we have reduced our defect rate to make it economical for full scale production" I'll be the first one to say Yipee! Until then the 750fx chips are going into the low volume XServes.

Eug Wanker · May 12, 2004, 08:21 PM

Originally posted by Stephen.S.:
I'm not sure how good this news is since the G5 is made from 300mm wafers, and IBM says that while yields are improving, "are not yet where we want them to be."

In any case, an improvement is an improvement. Hopefully, Big Blue will have this ironed out in short order.

Agreed. An improvement is an improvement.

Originally posted by MrPopman:
Those series of statements really doesn't tell you anything, except they are not ready to go into full scale production and you don't know when they will be. When they step up and say "we have reduced our defect rate to make it economical for full scale production" I'll be the first one to say Yipee! Until then the 750fx chips are going into the low volume XServes.

You mean 970FX. The 750 is a G3.

digital_dreamer · May 12, 2004, 09:31 PM

Originally posted by MrPopman:
Snip...
Until then the 750fx chips are going into the low volume XServes.

I certainly hope not!

regards,
MAJ

djohnson · May 12, 2004, 10:12 PM

Great news. However, I doubt they would let the car out of the bag

ReggieX · May 12, 2004, 10:59 PM

Originally posted by digital_dreamer:
I certainly hope not!

But they'd be so small and light and quiet!

Eug Wanker · May 13, 2004, 08:17 AM

EETimes: IBM positive on IC yields, foundry demand

At present, the 300-mm fab in East Fishkill is about two-thirds equipped and running 350 wafer starts per day. About 50 percent of the company's production involves 130-nm technology.

During a presentation, IBM showed a chart describing the company's relative fault defects versus its target yields within the fab. According to the chart, IBM has lowered the delta in terms of defect rates over the last year and is close to its target yields in the plant. "Our yields are rapidly improving, especially in the last couple of months," Kelly said.

This is the graph they're talking about:

Of note however is the fact that it only talks about 130 nm parts. I wonder what the graph is like for the 90 nm 970FX however.