UBM starts teardown analysis of Intel Ivy Bridge CPU

Published:2012/4/12 2:57:00 Author:Ecco From:SeekIC

UBM TechInsights announced that they would start a teardown analysis of an Intel Ivy Bridge processor. However, UBM TechInsights has an Ivy Bridge processor marked as a 3.3GHz Core i5-3550 chip which is packaged in Malaysia. It has a die size of 170 mm2, down from 208 mm2 for the current Sandy Bridge i7 2600K CPU. The Ivy Bridge chips are the first to use Intel’s 22 nm process technology with 3-D transistors.

According to most of the semiconductor industry, the next big process is a 28 nm technology. Altera and Xilinx have already made 28 nm FPGAs, AMD and Qualcomm. They are making 28 nm chips in the process at foundries including GlobalFoundries and TSMC.

Intel’s 22 nm technology is unique with 3-D transistors otherwise known as FinFETs. The transistor designs should be in lower power leakage. In any case, other chip makers will develop similar technologies in sub 20 nm processes.

UBM TechInsights aims to deliver two reports based on its examination of the Ivy Bridge chip. It will release a logic detail structural analysis report covering the chip’s process technology, logic cells, embedded memory, logic and I/O transistors with high res images of the chip and its key regions.

In its initial tests, UBM TechInsights found gate pitches of 90nm in the embedded SRAM array in the processor. It also found logic regions with gate lengths of 22 nm.

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