Dan Among Den

From New Scientist Tech:

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.