Re: IBM Says It's Lucky to Get 10% to 20% Yields on Cell Processor
- From: "HidariMak" <HidariMak@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 29 Aug 2006 09:32:01 -0700
John Reed wrote:
Cell processor reliability details may surprise you
As Sony's PlayStation 3 console nears its official release, more focus has
turned to the technical wizardry that lays inside the actual machine. The
Cell processor, developed by IBM, Sony and Toshiba, has gained a great deal
of attention over the last year. In an interview with Electronic News
however, IBM vice president of Semiconductor and Technology Services Tom
Reeves says that his company is lucky if it can get 10% to 20% yields on the
Cell processor.
The Cell processor is so complex that IBM even accepts chips that have only
four out of the eight cores working. Not all cores end up functional says
Reeves. In regards to why the yields are so low, Reeves says "[defects
becomes a bigger problem the bigger the chip is. With chips that are
one-by-one and silicon germanium, we can get yields of 95 percent. With a
chip like the Cell processor, you're lucky to get 10 or 20 percent. If you
put logic redundancy on it, you can double that." According to Reeves, Sony
will be using Cell processors whether they have all cores functional or not.
Reeves says that the PlayStation 3 requires at least seven of the eight
cores operational.
According to Reeves, IBM is still debating whether or not to discard the
processors that have only six or less cores operational. Because of the
design, the processors are still operational and can be used for various
applications. IBM says that it will reserve the top chips for applications
such as medical imaging and defense applications.
With Reeves' statements, it appears as though Sony will be producing
PlayStation 3 consoles with different Cell processors -- some with all eight
cores operational and some with just seven. Reeves however does not believe
that Sony will offer different pricing for the machines and only time will
tell if there will be performance differences. Reeves says however that
users will not see any differences in speed. "The PlayStation 3 only uses
seven of [the eight cores]. You'd have a spare."
In the interview, Reeves also talks about failure rate as there is a
possibility that one of the cores in the Cell will "blow" at any given time.
Reeves says that usually, testing during fabrication stages will detect
whether a core or more will be problematic. Using electrical "fuses", IBM
can "blow" out a core during wafer testing. When asked what would happen if
a 7-core PlayStation 3 ends up losing another core during operation, Reeves
stated that the user would simply send the unit back for replacement.
Unfortunately, this only applies if the console is still under warranty --
if it isn't, the console is dead.
Over the last several months, speculation over the PlayStation 3's official
retail costs have caused many gamers to sit up and take notice. Some
analysts believe that Sony's new toy will cost too much to compete but Sony
has said that the entry price will not affect the PlayStation 3's adoption.
Considering the extremely low yields on the Cell processor in conjunction
with extensive testing time to make sure final PlayStation 3 consoles ship
with reliable processors, the high introductory pricing of the PlayStation 3
begins to show its true reasons. Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI)
president Ken Kutaragi previously said that if the PlayStation 3 was priced
at $599, it would actually be "too cheap."
I remember seeing this same story a few months ago, and that one had a
link. If this is not any newer, then it's possible that a solution has
already been found for higher yields. At the very least, there'd be
nothing to discount that.
What's the sourse for this story?
.
- References:
- IBM Says It's Lucky to Get 10% to 20% Yields on Cell Processor
- From: John Reed
- IBM Says It's Lucky to Get 10% to 20% Yields on Cell Processor
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