Due to delivery delays of immersion scanners, DRAM maker Rexchip Electronics will postpone transferring its capacity of 80,000 12-inch wafers to a 45nm process, according to the company. Its contingency plan is to first transfer the capacity to 63nm.
Rexchip confirmed previous reports that indicated its transition to 45nm might fall behind schedule due to extended delivery lead times of the key tool needed for ramping production on sub-50nm processes. The DRAM maker was originally scheduled to covert all of its 12-inch chip production to the node around year-end 2010.
Rexchip president Stephen Chen revealed the schedule for the company's transition to 45nm will be pushed back to the first quarter of 2011. Chen added Rexchip will see its first set of immersion scanner equipment arrive later this week, and five to six more sets by September.
Prior to a process shift to sub-50nm, Rexchip has aggressively ramped up production on 63nm in order to ride the wave of recovery in PC demand, Chen noted. It plans to shift all of its production to 63nm in July, Chen indicated.
Rexchip is a DRAM-manufacturing joint venture between Elpida and Powerchip Semiconductor Corporation (PSC), supplying almost 70% of its total production to Elpida and the remainder to PSC.
Rival Inotera Memories, a joint venture between Micron Technology and Nanya Technology, recently said it is on track to move Micron's 50nm to mass production in the third quarter of 2010. Inotera also revealed plans to kick off trial runs on 42nm in the second half of this year.