Tested and ready for mass production

Mobile phones sporting chips equipped with 65nm CMOS technology have passed initial tests by Infineon and will go into mass production ready for distribution in late 2006.

The chip houses more than 30m transistors on a space of just 33 sq mm.

The product tests took place in Duisburg, Munich and Bangalore where the phones were required to dial-in to different GSM mobile communications networks.

"This new technology features high performance at low power consumption and is the most advanced semiconductor technology for logic circuitry that Infineon is currently preparing for mass production," said the firm in a statement.

Professor Hermann Eul, head of Infineon's Communication Solutions Business Group, added: "Thanks to this technological breakthrough, we have proven that our strategy of innovative integration works and that the number of available functions will increase while the footprint decreases."

Infineon developed the technology in cooperation with the 65/45-nm research and development alliance ICIS, which is made up of IBM, Chartered, Infineon and Samsung.