Faster, lower-power chips on the way

ECE Illinois alumnus Mark Bohr (MSEE ’78) and his team of researchers at Intel announced this week a significant breakthrough in microprocessor technology.  By incorporating new materials, Intel will produce 45 nanometer scale chips capable of working faster and using less energy than those in use today.  

Microchips are made up of hundreds of millions of tiny transistors.  Two of the key materials in the transistor, the gate insulator and the gate electrode, have been based on silicon for the last 40 years.  The new chips utilize improved metal alloys.

“This is a huge change in the transistor structure to convert to a high-k dielectric material which is based on the element hafnium and to change the transistor gate electrode materials to some other special metal layers,” explains Bohr, who is an Intel Senior Fellow. 

According to Bohr, this breakthrough represents the biggest change in transistor technology since the late 1960s when Intel first introduced poly-silicon gate MOS transistors. 

“We had scaled current materials just about to their limits and I think all other companies in our industry were also seeing that wall,” notes Bohr.  “The danger was that if we didn’t find some new materials or new ways of creating transistors, Moore’s Law would come to an end.”

Intel co-founder Gordon Moore’s prediction that the number of transistors on a chip would double roughly every two years is known as Moore’s Law, the end of which has been widely predicted for some time. 

This week’s announcement means that Moore’s law will live on, at least for now.

“This is a breakthrough that’s not just a one generation breakthrough, but it will allow us to continue scaling transistors beyond the 45 nanometer generation, to the 32 and 22 nanometer generations beyond that,” predicts Bohr. 

In comparison to today’s 65 nanometer chips, the new high-k plus metal gate 45 nanometer chips offer improved transistor density, a 30 percent reduction in switching power, 20 percent improvement in speed, and a tenfold reduction in leakage power.  In other words, the new chips are smaller, faster, and use less energy.

Bohr notes that hundreds of engineers worked on the project, including more than a few from Illinois.

“We have a very talented set of engineers working in our research and development teams that are continually finding these improved technologies,” says Bohr.  “Illinois is well-represented on the teams here in Oregon with graduates from ECE, materials science, and chemical engineering.”

Intel will roll out the new chips in the second half of 2007, making them available for computers ranging from high-end mainframe servers to hand-held devices.