http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16839253/
SAN JOSE, Calif. - In dueling announcements, Intel Corp. and International
Business Machines Corp. separately say they have solved a puzzle perplexing
the semiconductor industry about how to reduce energy loss in microchip
transistors as the technology shrinks to the atomic scale.
Each company said it has devised a way to replace problematic but vital
materials in the transistors of computer chips that have begun leaking too
much electric current as the circuitry on those chips gets smaller.
Technology experts said it's the most dramatic overhaul of transistor
technology for computer chips since the 1960s and is crucial in allowing
semiconductor companies to continue making ever-smaller devices that are
also energy-efficient.
It also ratchets up the competition between Intel and rival chipmaker
Advanced Micro Devices Inc., which helped IBM develop the technology along
with electronics makers Sony Corp. and Toshiba Corp.
Semiconductor experts said Intel and IBM scientists have concocted a clever
way to maintain the industry's frenetic development pace.
'Moore's Law'
Companies are feverishly trying to discover new ways to adhere to Moore's
Law, the 1965 prediction by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore that the number of
transistors on a chip should double about every two years.
So far, chip development has generally advanced according to that schedule,
leading to the creation of faster and more powerful processors that also
give off less heat and are cheaper to run.
But scientists in recent years have reported serious problems in stopping
electric current from leaking out of the tiniest chip parts, threatening to
halt the march of Moore's Law.
The problem is that the silicon dioxide used for more than 40 years as an
insulator inside transistors has been shaved so thin that an increasing
amount of current is seeping through, wasting electricity and generating
unnecessary heat.
Intel and IBM said they have discovered a way to replace that material with
various metals in parts called the gate, which turns the transistor on and
off, and the gate dielectric, an insulating layer, which helps improve
transistor performance and retain more energy.
'New life' for chip industry
Intel said new materials help provide a 20 percent boost in transistor
performance. IBM did not release specifics of its project.
"This gives the entire chip industry a new life in terms of Moore's Law, in
all three of the big metrics - performance, power consumption and transistor
density," said David Lammers, director of WeSRCH.com, a social networking
Web site for semiconductor enthusiasts and part of VLSI Research Inc. "It
opens the door to some pretty rapid improvements."
Intel appears the farthest along in bringing a product based on the
technology to market.
The Santa Clara-based company said it has created working microprocessors
using the new materials that will go into mass production in the second half
of 2007.
Intel also said the chips will be built using its new manufacturing process
that involves shrinking parts of the chips down to 45 nanometers, or
billionths of a meter, from the 65-nanometer process the company uses now.
The advanced manufacturing process allows Intel to shrink the size of the
circuitry on its chips and pack more transistors onto a single sliver of
silicon at a lower cost.
'A very big deal'
While IBM won't sell the chips by themselves, the Armonk, N.Y.-based company
said it would begin selling servers with chips using the technology in 2008.
"This is a very big deal for the industry," said Richard Doherty, research
director at the Envisioneering Group. "Intel will be the first to have this
in production, but IBM could potentially have a density advantage compared
with Intel's scheme. But both should get gold medals."
Sunnyvale-based AMD said it was not disclosing when it expects to use the
technology in its own chips, but said it plans to introduce its own
45-nanometer products in mid-2008.
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