Companies Rev Up For 90 nm Chips

In a series of announcements, several companies are making known their plans for next-generation 90 nm ICs. Agere Systems has announced a comprehensive 90 nm ASIC semiconductor technology platform targeted for communications applications. Leveraging it’s rich portfolio of communications IP, Agere’s AGR90 ASIC Platform is expected to accelerate the pace at which it’s customers deliver their products to market by approximately six months. The AGR90 Platform includes various types of standard protocols, serial/deserializer (SerDes) sub-circuits, encoding schemes, digital signal processors, I/O (input/output) cells, microprocessors, memory and more. Agere plans to start designing its 90 nm technology into customers’ products in Q3 2002 and will start production volume manufacturing of 90 nm chips next year. AGERE SYSTEMS, Allentown, PA. (800) 372-2447, Dept A44.