Freescale Semiconductor, a maker of chips for various networking, mobile and some other applications, said that its transition to 90nm process technology had been proceeding well and that the company was ready to begin prototyping of devices made at 65nm node in November, 2005.

“We have addressed many of the industry's widely reported challenges with 90nm and are applying our expertise to the next generations of technology. Our achievements at 90-nm over the past year set the stage for successful 65-nm prototyping, which we will begin in November,” said Freescale’s chief technology officer Dr. Claudine Simson.

Since initiating manufacturing of 90nm product designs on 300mm wafers in October 2004, Freescale has introduced 12 new products on 90nm low-power CMOS technology. Currently, Freescale’s 90-nm products include digital, analog, RF and embedded memory devices for diverse end applications, such as wireless handsets, printers, enterprise networking components and wireless infrastructure equipment.

The company said that it had managed to complete the 90nm product releases without additional prototyping. According to Freescale, already the first samples were fully functional and ready for volume production. High first-pass success rates help minimize the design gap, significantly decrease time to market and reduce the design efforts and costs required for each new product introduction.

Freescale’s latest to date 90nm products were introduced in Crolles2, the joint Freescale, STMicroelectronics and Phillips R&D/pilot manufacturing facility located in Crolles, France near the city of Grenoble. The three microelectronics giants lead the Crolles2 Alliance – a partnership established in 2002 to speed the advancement of CMOS process technology.