Electronics Production |
Intel presents ground breaking technology
Intel is using two dramatically new materials to build the insulating walls and switching gates of its 45 nanometer transistors. The biggest breakthrough in chip technology in 40 years, Intel said.
Hundreds of millions of these microscopic transistors or switches will be inside the next generation Intel Core(TM) 2 Duo, Intel Core 2 Quad and Xeon families of multi-core processors. The company also said it has five early-version products up and running the first of fifteen 45nm processor products planned from Intel.
The transistor feat allows the company to continue delivering PC, laptop and server processor speeds, while reducing the amount of electrical leakage from transistors that can hamper chip and PC design, size, power consumption, noise and costs. It also ensures Moore's Law, a high-tech industry axiom that transistor counts double about every two years, thrives well into the next decade.
The early versions, which will be targeted at five different computer market segments, are running Windows(1) Vista(1), Mac OS, Windows (1) XP and Linux operating systems, as well as various applications. The company remains on track for 45nm production in the second half of this year.
Intel is the first to implement a combination of new materials that reduces transistor leakage and increases performance in its 45nm process technology. The company will use a new material with a property called high-k, for the transistor gate dielectric, and a new combination of metal materials for the transistor gate electrode.
