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TITLE: Hafnium-based Chips Under Development
Hafnium, a metal used in the manufacture of nuclear reactors,
could soon replace silicon in the technology lexicon following
claims that it will revolutionise computer-chip technology.
Breakthroughs announced by Intel and IBM should enable the speed
and power of computer chips to keep accelerating for at least the
next decade.
The development, described by Intel as the "biggest change to
computer chips in 40 years", will not only push personal
computers and laptop speeds to unprecedented levels, but it
should also allow people to do more on their mobile phones.
Intel said that the density of transistors on a chip could be
doubled, making computers faster and reducing the cost of
powering transistors by almost a third.
The number of transistors on a chip has been roughly doubling
every two years, making it more and more difficult for the thin
silicon dioxide insulators to stop leakage of electric current.
This, in turn, leads to a shortened battery life. Although
leakage can be reduced by thickening the insulators, it also
reduces the electric charge passing through, thus hindering
performance. Hafnium-based insulators are said to solve this
conundrum as they allow the insulation to be thickened without
impeding performance. The metal will also be used to make the
gate that turns the transistor on and off. The resultant
combination of processing power and energy efficiency could make
it possible for mobile-phone users to watch video footage at
length. At the moment the resultant drain on the battery limits
people to watching short clips.
Intel said that the revolutionary technology would be used on its
new generation of 45-nanometer transistors, which it claims are
so small that 400 could fit on the surface of a single human red
blood cell.
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FILENUMBER: 1296
BEGIN_KEYWORDS
Hafnium
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DATE: February 2007
TITLE: Hafnium-based Chips Under Development
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