Intel Reinvents the Transistor

[Analog]

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.

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

 

[dknguyen]

It's funny that they would say it's a holy grail just because it is their technology and it is the closest to commercialization, even though there are some other technologies out there that promise far better performance. Marketing I suppose. Great perhaps, but holy grail is going a bit far I think.

 

[psecody]

Things like this kinda make me mad sometimes. When I bought my laptop I got a macbook pro loaded out with every option I could and then 2 months later they change the macbook pro processor to a core 2 duo. I love technology but theres no way to keep up with it sometimes.

 

[mramos1]

Things like this kinda make me mad sometimes. When I bought my laptop I got a macbook pro loaded out with every option I could and then 2 months later they change the macbook pro processor to a core 2 duo. I love technology but theres no way to keep up with it sometimes.

Nothing to bad mad about.

My computers 10-15 years ago were about the same speed from a enter_key/click to the display results. They crashed a lot less. Did not have spam or viri. I could access the hardware ports without drivers (who decieded to lock the parallel and serial ports as a threat and missed the ethernet card?).

And though the software then had less features, it still did my job.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

I could access the hardware ports without drivers (who decieded to lock the parallel and serial ports as a threat and missed the ethernet card?).

The ethernet card is 'locked' exactly as the parallel and serial ports are, the OS prevents direct hardware access to any of them. This isn't done because they may be a 'threat', it's because in a multi-tasking system (even a poor one like Windows) you can't have any random program accessing the hardware directly.

BTW - I've never heard of 'hafnium' before!.

 

[Hero999]

Good news I suppose but do we really need faster PCs?

Why when they'll only end up running the latest bloated OS like Vista wich will reduce their apparent speed to that of a Pentium III?

 

[ArtemisGoldfish]

Uh, I just read that IBM/Toshiba/Sony/AMD had a Hafnium Oxide technology that could be set up in the East Fishkill fab.

 

[psecody]

I mean I love it when things get faster and better but it kinda makes me mad because I usually have just upgraded right before the new thing comes out. Like the ipod I bought a 60gb (which was the biggest even though I wanted a bigger one) then two weeks later they released the 80gb.

 

[ArtemisGoldfish]

I mean I love it when things get faster and better but it kinda makes me mad because I usually have just upgraded right before the new thing comes out.

I agree. I think more devices should have a significant upgrade path so they don't become obsolete so quickly. The PowerMac 8500 motherboard, that had a crazy upgrade path that went from the initial POWERPC's to G3's.

 

[HarveyH42]

I agree. I think more devices should have a significant upgrade path so they don't become obsolete so quickly. The PowerMac 8500 motherboard, that had a crazy upgrade path that went from the initial POWERPC's to G3's.

Upgrades are more costly, and less profitable than getting the consumer to buy a new (improved) unit. This keeps third parties out of the profit picture, and cuts down on knock-off products. Besides, wouldn't you be pissed to find out the $100+ difference was just moving a jumper and swapping out a chip...

 

[justDIY]

I thought the next "Holy Grail" was photonic computing?

 

[dknguyen]

I thought it was quantum computing? Well...that doesn't have anything to do with semiconductors and the statement said "Holy Grail of Semiconductor technology". What about ballistic transistors? But then there is also the new (gallium?) substrates that were supposed to be 20x faster and 100x more power efficient than silicon which beats the numbers up there...of course, the one up their is closer to commercializing.

 

[Roff]

Why would anyone get mad about a technology where the next generation is always faster and cheaper than the last? What product group other than electronics offers that advantage? Health care? Nope. Automobiles? Nope. Houses? Nope.

 

[Sceadwian]

All they're really changing is the insulator material of a standard CMOS manufactoring process. It's not exactly a holy grail or revolutionary. It's more like the last gasp from cmos before other technologies begin to encroach on it. The single biggest problem with advancing clock speeds and power consumption on modern CPU's is the 'gate charge' of the FET's that current micro processors are based on. You might see this kind of thing in really high end systems or ones that need a very high power consuption to performace ratio, but it's hardly a miracle. They'd have to come up with an advancement like this every 6 months to pull the death shroud off the semi conductor for the far future.

 

[psecody]

Well take my laptop for example, a MacBook Pro 15" wodescreen with 2Gb Ram, 100 GB 7200RPM harddrive, 256mb graphics card and a super drive. All the bells and whistles and it was like $2500 of I remember correctly.

Now you can get a 15" with 3Gb (mine only supports 2Gb) RAM, though a plus is that mine has a 7200rpm hardrive and the fastest the newer model has is 5400. and a faster more efficient processor (2.33GHz Core 2 Duo as opposed to my 2.16 Core Duo) and its the same price as mine so now if I want to keep up I have to shell out another $2500.

That was my point, I don't like it because I have this compulsive feeling telling me I need to get the best.

 

[Roff]

Well take my laptop for example, a MacBook Pro 15" wodescreen with 2Gb Ram, 100 GB 7200RPM harddrive, 256mb graphics card and a super drive. All the bells and whistles and it was like $2500 of I remember correctly.

Now you can get a 15" with 3Gb (mine only supports 2Gb) RAM, though a plus is that mine has a 7200rpm hardrive and the fastest the newer model has is 5400. and a faster more efficient processor (2.33GHz Core 2 Duo as opposed to my 2.16 Core Duo) and its the same price as mine so now if I want to keep up I have to shell out another $2500.

That was my point, I don't like it because I have this compulsive feeling telling me I need to get the best.

I know the feeling but....
your alternative is that prices go up as performance goes up. Would you like it better if, 3 years from now, you decide to upgrade and it costs 50% more than you paid for your old system? If so, you're welcome to it. I prefer it the way things are.

 

[dknguyen]

Why would anyone get mad about a technology where the next generation is always faster and cheaper than the last? What product group other than electronics offers that advantage? Health care? Nope. Automobiles? Nope. Houses? Nope.

Not the technology- the marketing.

 

[Roff]

Not the technology- the marketing.

Say whut?

 

[mramos1]

The MACs seem to never lower in price. Captive sales.

I did trade in a G5 2.5 duo for a Quadra at no charge once. But that was a rare event. Had problems with the machine for a year on and off and they could not fix it the last trip in so they gave me the closest thing that had to it. Try to keep my 4 GIG of RAM too, I went back and they added that too.

But other than that, you want a Mac you pay the price. Steve is no better than Bill.