At the same time, Intel had already produced CPUs with a similar process for 4 years and was readying 500 nm CPUs. When AMD announced the first Am486 DX on March 1993, it was made on a 700 nm process (each transistor was 100x bigger than the ones on the latest Ryzen!). Two steps ahead!īack in the 90s, Intel was the unrivaled leader in manufacturing processes. Since 2015, Intel has lost its technical advance for the first time in 40+ years and since then, Chipzilla has been unable to do better than 14 nm in big quantities, while the latest AMD Ryzen are based on a 7 nm process. Today, AMD doesn’t have semiconductor plants anymore, their latest CPUs are manufactured by third parties (Samsung, TSMC, etc.) using processes far more advanced than what Intel is able to do. The more advanced the process, the smaller the transistors, and the more you can put on a single wafer at the same cost. Depending on the manufacturing process, a single wafer can contain up to 200 dies. Why are some dies small and others big? What’s the difference between them? Let’s dig deeper! Dies & ProcessĪm486 dies were produced on 6-inch (150 mm) wafers. But if the plate is the smaller one, your CPU is probably a later one with a smaller die. If you see the bigger plate on back, your Am486 is an early one with a bigger die. The internal cavity can accommodate a larger die than the right one, which has a smaller cavity and a covering plate measuring only 18 x 18 mm. It’s easy to distinguish the two major versions by the size of the metallic plate that covers the die on the back of the CPU. The two major versions are distinguished mainly by the dimensions of the internal cavity, designed to accommodate the physical dimensions of a specific die. We’ll talk later about the minor versions, which can be recognized by their package code. There are basically 2 major physical packages and 8 minor revisions. All previous CPUs (486, K5, K6-1/2/3, Athlon, Duron) were still based on good ol’ ceramic substrates!īut let’s go back to our Am486. AMD only transitioned from ceramic to plastic long after Intel, with the Athlon XP launched in 2001. But the most technically advanced manufacturer of plastic substrates for semiconductors – named Ibiden Co., Ltd – remained in Japan (Ogaki). The previous “big three” companies (Kyocera, NTK and Sumitomo) from the ceramic era were progressively discarded while Shinko gained recognition, along with the US-based Johnson Matthey Electronics (a company established in 1817!). In the second half of the 90s, beginning with late Pentiums (P54CS), Intel gradually switched from ceramic to plastic packages for their processors. Fortunately, that task is far easier with AMD’s 486 because of the logo printed – or laser engraved – on the bottom-right of the package. It’s very difficult to distinguish an Intel package manufactured by Kyocera from another one made by NTK or Sumitomo. Shinko Electric Industries, the smallest of them, specialized on semiconductors packages in Nagano, Japan.ĪMD ordered the substrates for their Am486 from the same companies, except for the last one.Sumitomo Metal Ceramics, created in 1991 in Mine, Japan from parent company SMI ( Sumitomo Metal Industries).NTK Technical Ceramics, a subsidiary of NGK Spark Plug, a well-known manufacturer of isolators for the automotive industry located in Nagoya, Japan.Others being mainly second-source alternatives. By far the biggest company and the principal contractor. Kyocera, who was known until 1982 under the name Kyoto Ceramic Company.The ceramic substrates used on Intel 486 processors were not made internally but bought from third parties, especially these four Japanese companies: This material is very hard, durable, and electrically non-conductive while able to dissipate heat fairly well. Until the mid-90s, CPU manufacturers mainly used ceramic packages. Packaging (Style & Manufacturer)Ī microprocessor is made up of a die (the small piece of silicon where the transistors are etched) assembled inside a package. I also had the chance to talk with a former AMD engineer that worked on the Am486 product line back in the 90s. I bought a LOT of Am486s and decap’d many of them to get some information. I can’t wait to tell you more about these, but I took some time first to write a complete guide to AMD 486 dies and packaging. Lately, a reader told me about some strange 486s he had and was glad enough to lend them to me for a detailed investigation with the UCA. Working with the Universal Chip Analyzer has so far been a fantastic way to explore many aspects of the silicon industry from the 70s to the 90s, with a countless amount of details that remain to be learned.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |