IBM brings triple whammy to 970FX PPC

IBM brings triple whammy to 970FX PPC
AUSTIN, Texas — IBM Corp. said Friday (Feb. 13) that it is in early production of a PowerPC microprocessor that combines silicon-on-insulator, a "local" form of strained silicon, and copper wiring at 90-nm design rules.

IBM also announced that the PowerPC 970FX early parts are being be used in a rack-mounted server being developed by Apple Computer Corp. called the Xserve G5 server.

Intel Corp. uses a form of local strained silicon and copper interconnects in its 90-nm Pentium 4 processors. However, Intel has not adopted SOI thus far, partly for cost reasons.

An IBM spokesman said the 970FX is in early production at the company's 300-mm fab in Fishkill, N.Y. He declined to say when the processor will move to full production, and said he also could not comment on its performance.

The 970FX uses a form of strained silicon that creates local strain in the NMOS and PMOS transistors, rather than the global strain induced by putting a layer of graded germanium across the entire wafer.