Santa Clara, CA — Intel Corp. has completed first production of microprocessors on the 0.13-micron process at its 300mm fab in Hillsboro, OR.

Intel claims to be the first to produce and ship production level processors on 0.13-micron technology using 300mm wafers.

The microprocessors will be used for mobile, desktop and server applications. The products were manufactured in Fab D1C, making it Intel’s fifth wafer fab running 0.13-micron process technology.

“Intel is the first manufacturer to ramp up production of 0.13-micron technology on 300mm wafers,” said Sunlin Chou, Intel’s senior VP and GM of the Technology and Manufacturing Group. “Microprocessors produced on 300mm wafers cost 30% less than those made using the smaller 200mm wafers, and by combining the larger wafers with our advanced 0.13-micron process, we are able to quadruple the output per wafer compared to that of the prior process generation.”

Enlarging the wafers to 300mm dramatically increases production of computer chips at lower cost. The total silicon surface area of a 300 mm wafer is 225% that of a 200mm wafer, and the ratio of printed die is increased to 240% The bigger wafers lower the production cost per chip while diminishing overall use of resources. The 300mm wafer manufacturing will use 40% less energy and water per chip than a 200mm wafer factory.

Intel’s new 0.13-micron process technology allows the company to manufacture chips with circuitry so small it would take almost 1,000 of these “wires” placed side-by-side to equal the width of a human hair. This advanced process technology enables high performance microprocessors that can contain hundreds of millions of transistors and run at multi-gigahertz clock speeds.