Next-Generation Chip Fabs

PaulBu writes "As reported in EE Times, a new IBM $2.5B fab will be the first one to 'produce chips using all three of the sophisticated technologies on the industry's bleeding edge: low-k dielectrics, copper interconnect and silicon-on-insulator based transistors' on 300mm wafers. And it runs entirely on Linux! Quote from the article: 'The state of automation in Building 323 is such that 20,000 sensors are used to track wafer lots in front-opening unified pods that are transported from one tool to the next on rails using linear induction motors. The setup resembles an intricate monorail system tuned to millimeter-precision specs. A central control system monitors all stations and tracks wafer lots via 802.11 wireless communications.'"

Comments

What sort of chips?

[Whispers_in_the_dark]

So what sort of chips are they planning to manufacture with such bleeding edge technologies? Is IBM trying to squeeze into the PC processor market or is this for more custom jobs?

FUD just as bad when it comes from Linux crowd

[nomadicGeek]

Let's start off by saying that I like Linux and I think that it is great. It sounds like IBM did some fantastic things at this plant and I applaud the innovation.

The Windows system fails after 6 or 7 day? I work with Industrial controls all the time. As I write this, I am working on an NT based server that monitors chemical production. It has only been rebooted 4 times in the last year (I'm waiting for a backup to complete so I can change tapes hence the time to cruise by /.). The reboots are due more to external factors than the box needing it. Reliability is not an issue in the Windows based systems that I build.

If the Windows based system failed after 6 or 7 days then they f'ed something up. There are a lot of things that you can blame on Bill Gates but I don't think that is one of them.

I think that it is great that they are using Linux. I would like to see a lot more of this type of thing. I'd love to take a look at what they have done, but the crap about the Windows system failing is FUD. It smells just as bad coming from the Linux crowd as it does coming from MS.

Re:FUD just as bad when it comes from Linux crowd

[SirSlud]

There is no *best*. Only your setup, your software, your thing. There's nothing to say that their software doesn't hit some bits in Windows that your software doesn't, and thats what causes it to crash. Or they exploit various weaknesses in Windows that your software doesn't.

I dont think theres any intended *this is always better than that if you set it up properly* claim being made here, just the simple fact that the MS install stood for 6 days, and the Linux for 3 months. If I were in charge of the money, I'd go Linux. If the MS had stood for 3 months, and Linux gone down after 6 days, I'd go with Windows.

4 reboots a year aint bad, but we regularly push over a year (FreeBSD, if youre curious):

2:37PM up 385 days, 10:18, 1 user, load averages: 0.75, 0.73, 0.79

4 reboots to me sounds like alot, but then again, we're doing different things on our boxen now, arn't we, so different behaviour can be expected? :)

Now there's an idea...

[garf]

How about a community CPU? All interested parties to gather around IBM's fab plant, as people hack through the wireless network they get to add their own designed parts of the CPU...

Hours later the wafer pops out...