Intel and IBM separately reported over the weekend that they are
both leveraging new materials to build the insulating walls and
switching gates of 45nm transistors.
From the Intel camp, the company noted that hundreds of millions
of these microscopic transistors will be inside the next-generation
Intel Core 2 Duo, Intel Core 2 Quad and Xeon families of multi-core
processors with five early-version products up and running - the
first of 15 45nm processor products planned from the company.
Intel said this transistor feat allows the company to continue
delivering fast processor speeds, while reducing the amount of
electrical leakage from transistors that can hamper chip and PC
design, size, power consumption, noise and costs, as well as
ensuring that Moore’s Law thrives well into the next decade.
Intel believes it has extended its lead of more than a year over
the rest of the semiconductor industry with the first working 45nm
processors of its next-generation 45nm family of products -
codenamed “Penryn.” The early versions are to be targeted at five
different computer market segments, will run Windows Vista, Mac OS
X, Windows XP and Linux operating systems, as well as various
applications. Intel reminded that it is still on track for 45nm
production in the second half of this year.
Specifically, the technology is a combination of new materials
which are meant to reduce transistor leakage and increase
performance in 45nm process technology with a property called
high-k, for the transistor gate dielectric, and a new combination
of metal materials for the transistor gate electrode.
“The implementation of high-k and metal materials marks the
biggest change in transistor technology since the introduction of
polysilicon gate MOS transistors in the late 1960s,” said Intel
co-Founder Gordon Moore, in a statement.
Transistors are tiny switches, while the gate turns the
transistor on and off and the gate dielectric is an insulator
underneath it that separates it from the channel where current
flows.
The combination of the metal gates and the high-k gate
dielectric leads to transistors with very low current leakage and
record high performance.
Intel reminded that silicon dioxide has been used to make the
transistor gate dielectric for more than 40 years because of its
manufacturability and ability to deliver continued transistor
performance improvements as it has been made ever thinner.
The company said it has successfully shrunk the silicon dioxide
gate dielectric to as little as 1.2nm thick - equal to five atomic
layers - on its previous 65nm process technology, but the continued
shrinking has led to increased current leakage through the gate
dielectric, resulting in wasted electric current and unnecessary
heat.
Transistor-gate-leakage associated with the thinning silicon
dioxide gate dielectric is recognised by the industry as one of the
most formidable technical challenges facing Moore’s Law.
To solve this critical issue, Intel noted that it has replaced
the silicon dioxide with a thicker hafnium-based high-k material in
the gate dielectric, claming a reduction in leakage by more than 10
times compared to silicon dioxide.
Because the high-k gate dielectric is not compatible with
today’s silicon gate electrode, the second part of Intel’s 45nm
transistor material recipe is the development of new metal gate
materials. While the specific metals that Intel uses will remain
guarded, the company said it will use a combination of different
metal materials for the transistor gate electrodes.
Intel expects that the combination of the high-k gate dielectric
with the metal gate for its 45nm process technology provides more
than a 20 per cent increase in drive current, or higher transistor
performance, while reducing source-drain leakage by more than five
times, to improve the energy efficiency of the transistor
The chip giant said its 45nm process technology also improves
transistor density by around two times that of the previous
generation, allowing it to either increase the overall transistor
count or to make processors smaller.
Intel’s 45nm transistors are smaller than the previous
generation, requiring less energy to switch on and off, reducing
active switching power by about 30 per cent. Intel said it will use
copper wires with a low-k dielectric for its 45nm interconnects for
increased performance and lower power consumption, as well as
employing new design rules and advanced mask techniques to extend
the use of 193nm dry lithography to manufacture its 45nm processors
because of the cost advantages and high manufacturability it
affords.
From Big Blue’s perspective, the company said it worked with
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and its other development partners
Sony and Toshiba, to construct a critical part of the transistor
with a new material, clearing a path toward chip circuitry that is
smaller, faster and more power-efficient than previously thought
possible.
While Intel’s process is not compatible with current technology,
IBM said its technology can be incorporated into existing chip
manufacturing lines with minimal changes to tooling and processes,
making it economically viable.
IBM expects this to have widespread impact, and has inserted the
technology into its semiconductor manufacturing line in East
Fishkill, New York, and will apply it to products with chip
circuits as small as 45nm starting in 2008.
The company said the creation of this transistor component with
the new material was accomplished by the IBM team without requiring
major tooling or process changes in manufacturing - an essential
element if the technology is to be economically viable.
AMD also said it is still on schedule to introduce 45nm products
in mid-2008, as previously announced, which is some 18 months after
the company rolled out its 65nm process technology.
At the IEDM 2006 conference in December, AMD and IBM announced
they would introduce immersion lithography and ultra low-k
dielectrics at 45nm, while Intel is still using a dry lithography
technique.
Financial analyst Tim Luke with Lehman Brothers said in a
research note this morning that based on the announcements from the
company, he is “encouraged by Intel’s server resurgence with the
ramp of quad cores and progression 45nm process node technology and
by cost cutting potentially lifting operating margins”.