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February 09, 2007
Moore's Law cut in hafnium?
Pardon the pun, but I'm still in shock that I missed this news. Last week, Intel announced that it is switching away from silicon for its next generation of chips and moving towards metal and a "high-K" hafnium compound. This should let them shrink down to 45nm gates from the current 65nm gates as well as improve the power efficiency.
A transistor consists of an electrode that switches the current on and off within a "channel" using an electric field. In the past, to make the transistor switch faster, and thereby up its performance, chip makers shortened the electrode and thinned the insulating wall that separates it from the channel.
This is far from ideal, as thinning the wall causes current to leak from the channel into the electrode, wasting heat and electricity. Furthermore, it means more current leakage than the transistor could handle.
Now, in an effort to continue shrinking and speeding up its transistors, Intel has come up with an insulator that transmits a fast-switching electric field even at a relatively large size. The exact composition of this "high-k" material is a secret, but Intel says that it contains hafnium. It is claimed to increase transistor switching speed by 20% and leak five times less current.
In 2003, Intel also had to tweak its process to start making 90 nanometre transistors. Its secret then was to use "strained silicon" in its transistors. This increased the speed at which current flowed, although Hutcheson says that advance was "a walk in the park" compared with achieving today's leap to high-k insulators.
The change in insulator has also led to a change in the gate electrode material. When high-k materials are deposited next to an electrode made of polysilicon, defects normally arise at the boundary. But this effect disappears when a metal gate is used instead.
This is not just a research project. It's going into manufacturing later this year under the code name "Penryn" and will be available in products in 2008. Specifically, look for the new versions of the Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad, and the Xeon processors next year.
In short, this should extend the lifetime of Moore's Law well into the 2020's. Intel and AMD are rumored to be close to a similar announcement as well.
Technology by Dan | Permalink | Comments (0)
February 08, 2007
Was Snickers promoting homophobia or mocking it?
One of the ads during the Superbowl has come under fire for promoting homophobia.
This year's advertisement by Masterfoods, a unit of privately-held Mars, showed two auto mechanics locked in an accidental kiss while eating a Snickers candy bar, then ripping out chest hair to prove they are "manly."
"The makers of Snickers and its parent company at Mars should know better," the Human Rights Campaign said in a statement. "If they have any questions about why the ad isn't funny, we can help put them in touch with any number of Americans who have suffered hate crimes."
Masterfoods said that while feedback from its key customers had been positive, it would nonetheless pull the commercial.
"We know that humor is highly subjective and understand that some people may have found the ad offensive," the company said in a statement.
Oh, come on!! Hate Crimes? Even bringing that into the discussion is ridiculous and trivializes hate crimes. This ad doesn't promote homophobia. It mocks it. It takes two guys' love of a Snickers bar, turns it into an awkward violoation of personal space, and then shows how their slavery to homophobia forces them to injure themselves to get rid of the "gay cooties".
Anyway, here it is. Take a look.
Personally, and with a fair dose of cynicism, I think what's really happening here is that someone saw the chance to grind their favorite axe and jumped at it. This lets them get their particular issue out there in the press and the national mindshare, and they think that's a good thing. I, however, think it was a mistake. Instead of focusing on real issues of discrimination and hatred, we're debating whether or not a commercial was sufficiently sensitive to the gay community.
Politics by Dan | Permalink | Comments (3)