| ??? 06/19/10 14:57 Read: times |
#176772 - How many 8051 chips uses 0.13u? Responding to: ???'s previous message |
Erik Malund said:
In some situations, it can match the power consumption of an 8-bit processor by using smaller geometry and hence less capacitance to overcome
8-bitters with "smaller geometry' do/would make that point moot Except that there isn't a very strong driving force to produce 8051 chips in the smallest geometries. Too few transistors to make it meaningful from a power perspective. And the silicon is already so small that you don't get a big gain in more chips/wafter either. The ARM7EJ-S for example has a die size of 0.45mm2 when produced in 0.13um technology. But how many 8051 are produced in 0.13 - or even 0.18um? And how much can you shave off the die size when you still want something to glue into the capsule and add the bond wires to? The 8051 are split into thousands and thousands of variants - and the individual manufacturers don't have the economic strength push the envelope. There ships about 10 million ARM processers/day, and a large percentage of them comes from a few, but big, manufacturers. They already have the factories for producing 0.18 or 0.13u chips and they have a lot to gain from making use of them. Especially since the ARM core isn't in the public domain. They are licensed, and ARM is spending a lot of time pushing their technology. Having a single organization taking great care of their baby gives a huge drive. |
