Intel Reinvents the Transistor

[0]

It is what both wide-eyed engineers and anxious executives have described as the "Holy Grail of semiconductor technology," and Friday morning Intel revealed it has developed working 45 nm processor samples running Microsoft Windows Vista, Mac OS X, Linux and other operating systems, where this material - a compound based on the element hafnium, atomic number 72, a frequently occurring impurity in zirconium typically found in fake diamonds - serves as the dielectric gate between the current source and the current drain.

With the hafnium material serving as the gate, Intel will then replace the polysilicon electrode layer with a metal electrode, the exact alloy used here also being kept secret. As a result, transistors for 45 nm semiconductors starting with Intel's Penryn family will be fabricated at half the size of those used in today's 65 nm Core 2 processors. At the same time, transistor switching power can be reduced by as much as 30%, while still obtaining a performance improvement of as much as 20%. And current leakage at the gate will be reduced by a factor of 10.

http://www.betanews.com/article/Intel_Reinvents_the_Transistor/1169872301

 

[ElFenix]

wow

 

[SlitheryDee]

I've traditionally been an AMD fanboy, but damn Intel is seriously bringing it's A game this round.

 

[KLin]

I wonder how large their annual R&D budget is?

 

[Fenixgoon]

Originally posted by: SlitheryDee
I've traditionally been an AMD fanboy, but damn Intel is seriously bringing it's A game this round.

thank the A64 for that... but this means K8L better be good, too

 

[Sphexi]

In other news, every AMD executive has committed seppuku.

 

[Red Dawn]

Originally posted by: Sphexi
In other news, every AMD executive has committed seppuku.

Ahem

"International Business Machines Corp. expects its technique to debut next year in chips made by its partners, which include AMD and Japan's Toshiba Corp.

Researchers are optimistic the new technology can be used at least through two more technology generations out, when circuitry will be just 22 nanometers.

"We've been doing this for 40 years and we've got to the point where some of these layers you have to make smaller wouldn't scale anymore," said IBM Chief Technologist Bernie Meyerson.

"We are getting down to a stage of technology where people have wondered if you could really ever go there, and we have definitely shown a roadmap down to these unbelievably tiny dimensions," Meyerson said."

 

[Acanthus]

Wasnt all of this info included in the AT 45nm article?

 

[Fenixgoon]

Originally posted by: Red Dawn

Originally posted by: Sphexi
In other news, every AMD executive has committed seppuku.

Ahem

"International Business Machines Corp. expects its technique to debut next year in chips made by its partners, which include AMD and Japan's Toshiba Corp.

Researchers are optimistic the new technology can be used at least through two more technology generations out, when circuitry will be just 22 nanometers.

"We've been doing this for 40 years and we've got to the point where some of these layers you have to make smaller wouldn't scale anymore," said IBM Chief Technologist Bernie Meyerson.

"We are getting down to a stage of technology where people have wondered if you could really ever go there, and we have definitely shown a roadmap down to these unbelievably tiny dimensions," Meyerson said."

intel is ahead of AMD on the shrink times, though... AMD's 65nm is barely out and Intel already has significant progress* on 45nm

edit*: typed the wrong word

 

[Howard]

Thank you, AMD.

 

[IAteYourMother]

Originally posted by: Red Dawn

Originally posted by: Sphexi
In other news, every AMD executive has committed seppuku.

Ahem

"International Business Machines Corp. expects its technique to debut next year in chips made by its partners, which include AMD and Japan's Toshiba Corp.

Researchers are optimistic the new technology can be used at least through two more technology generations out, when circuitry will be just 22 nanometers.

"We've been doing this for 40 years and we've got to the point where some of these layers you have to make smaller wouldn't scale anymore," said IBM Chief Technologist Bernie Meyerson.

"We are getting down to a stage of technology where people have wondered if you could really ever go there, and we have definitely shown a roadmap down to these unbelievably tiny dimensions," Meyerson said."

where are the free ipods?

 

[Red Dawn]

Originally posted by: Fenixgoon
intel is ahead of AMD on the shrink times, though... AMD's 65nm is barely out and Intel already has significant progress* on 45nm

edit*: typed the wrong word

True but if there's a company that's use to playing catch up it's AMD.
I can't even count the number or times they've been written off due to Intel coming up with techinical advances first.

 

[Red Dawn]

Originally posted by: IAteYourMother

Originally posted by: Red Dawn

Originally posted by: Sphexi
In other news, every AMD executive has committed seppuku.

Ahem

"International Business Machines Corp. expects its technique to debut next year in chips made by its partners, which include AMD and Japan's Toshiba Corp.

Researchers are optimistic the new technology can be used at least through two more technology generations out, when circuitry will be just 22 nanometers.

"We've been doing this for 40 years and we've got to the point where some of these layers you have to make smaller wouldn't scale anymore," said IBM Chief Technologist Bernie Meyerson.

"We are getting down to a stage of technology where people have wondered if you could really ever go there, and we have definitely shown a roadmap down to these unbelievably tiny dimensions," Meyerson said."

where are the free ipods?

Just got me free shuffle in the mail

 

[Sphexi]

Originally posted by: Red Dawn

Originally posted by: Fenixgoon
intel is ahead of AMD on the shrink times, though... AMD's 65nm is barely out and Intel already has significant progress* on 45nm

edit*: typed the wrong word

True but if there's a company that's use to playing catch up it's AMD.
I can't even count the number or times they've been written off due to Intel coming up with techinical advances first.

It's certainly possible, and I really do hope that something comes out of AMD that's just as good or better than the C2D, keep Intel on their toes. I've gone both ways in the past, currently on a P4 Northwood, absolutely love how I have a 2.4 chip OC'd to about 3.0 with stock cooling and it still runs about 120F, really says a lot for Intel's engineering.

It just seems like Intel is really pulling out all the stops now, trying to bury AMD as far back as they can as quickly as they can.

 

[BoomerD]

the exact alloy used here also being kept secret.

In otherwords, AMD should have it within a few weeks...industrial espionage between these two companies has been rampant for years, with each company getting the other's secrets almost immediately, often before they've even been announced...it's just a matter whether the stealing company chooses to implement the new information on their product lines or not...

NOTE: I'm NOT saying AMD is more guilty than Intel at this, they're BOTH guilty of it...whether by the outright buying of stolen info, or just by hiring people away from the other who have the info...they both do it...as do most major corporations.

 

[loic2003]

CPU development has been a perfect example of what healthy competition can bring to the IT industry and the consumer. Long may it continue!

I hope AMD figure how to match it soon enough

 

[91TTZ]

Originally posted by: 0


With the hafnium material serving as the gate, Intel will then replace the polysilicon electrode layer with a metal electrode, the exact alloy used here also being kept secret. As a result, transistors for 45 nm semiconductors starting with Intel's Penryn family will be fabricated at half the size of those used in today's 65 nm Core 2 processors. At the same time, transistor switching power can be reduced by as much as 30%, while still obtaining a performance improvement of as much as 20%.

Aren't gains like that usually the result of the die shrink due to the new process, and not a result of the material being used?

If Intel switched to 45nm from 65nm while still using the same transistor technology, that would have also resulted in the dies being much smaller, using less power, and being faster.

This new technology in the article is bound to do something, but it's hard to tell what it exactly did for performance since it also included a shrinking of the process.

 

[Brentx]

That's crazy, I remember reading articles when 90nm was first being developed in the A64's a few years back. I believe it was sometime in early 2004. They were always saying that 65nm would be possible, but with our current technology, we were at a stop and at the end of the silicon chips because 45nm would not be possible due to electrical leakage.

I really have to applaud intel this last year, and so far this year. They have really come around, and this is coming from an AMD fanboy too. Right now I am buying my first intel based computer, a C2D notebook, and probably will be building my first intel desktop machine later this year. If AMD can't keep up, and their new architecture really blows for some reason this could be it for them. However people were always saying that when they switched from the K7 to the K8, and then pioneered x86-x64 technology. I'm sure they have something up their sleeves, besides low prices .

I love technology, just for this reason

 

[f4phantom2500]

Originally posted by: 91TTZ

Originally posted by: 0


With the hafnium material serving as the gate, Intel will then replace the polysilicon electrode layer with a metal electrode, the exact alloy used here also being kept secret. As a result, transistors for 45 nm semiconductors starting with Intel's Penryn family will be fabricated at half the size of those used in today's 65 nm Core 2 processors. At the same time, transistor switching power can be reduced by as much as 30%, while still obtaining a performance improvement of as much as 20%.

Aren't gains like that usually the result of the die shrink due to the new process, and not a result of the material being used?

If Intel switched to 45nm from 65nm while still using the same transistor technology, that would have also resulted in the dies being much smaller, using less power, and being faster.

True, but perhaps the increases in efficiency wouldn't be as good as if it were just a die shrink.

 

[ntdz]

Intel is tearing it up the last couple of years, it's awesome to see such great progress made.

 

[91TTZ]

To me, this part of the article sounds like faulty logic:

With the hafnium material serving as the gate, Intel will then replace the polysilicon electrode layer with a metal electrode, the exact alloy used here also being kept secret. As a result, transistors for 45 nm semiconductors starting with Intel's Penryn family will be fabricated at half the size of those used in today's 65 nm Core 2 processors

I could say that "Intel's new fab will produce blue wafers instead of gray wafers. As a result, transistors for 45 nm semiconductors starting with Intel's Penryn family will be fabricated at half the size of those used in today's 65 nm Core 2 processors"

Really, the reduction in size could be due to the shrink from 65nm to 45nm, and nothing to do with the fact that the wafers changed color.

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: ntdz
Intel is tearing it up the last couple of years, it's awesome to see such great progress made.

Intel fanbois are funny :laugh:

 

[everman]

Originally posted by: 91TTZ
To me, this part of the article sounds like faulty logic:

With the hafnium material serving as the gate, Intel will then replace the polysilicon electrode layer with a metal electrode, the exact alloy used here also being kept secret. As a result, transistors for 45 nm semiconductors starting with Intel's Penryn family will be fabricated at half the size of those used in today's 65 nm Core 2 processors

I could say that "Intel's new fab will produce blue wafers instead of gray wafers. As a result, transistors for 45 nm semiconductors starting with Intel's Penryn family will be fabricated at half the size of those used in today's 65 nm Core 2 processors"

Really, the reduction in size could be due to the shrink from 65nm to 45nm, and nothing to do with the fact that the wafers changed color.

It seems that "As a result" refers to the use of a metal electrode in place of the polysilicon layer. I think the actual die shrink is mainly due to going down to 45nm though, not the electrode material change. ...but I could be wrong.

 

[montypythizzle]

vacuum tubes FTFW

 

[ntdz]

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: ntdz
Intel is tearing it up the last couple of years, it's awesome to see such great progress made.

Intel fanbois are funny :laugh:

The only thing I'm a "fanboi" of is progress. I own 2 amd machines and 2 intel machines, no fanboy here. I buy whatever is the best performance/cost ratio at the time.