Intel researchers have discovered a new material that they believe will permit them to overcome one of the most serious obstacles facing chip makers as they struggle to shrink computer chips to ever-smaller dimensions.
The announcement, scheduled at a technical conference in Japan yesterday, could be a crucial step forward because the industry has been increasingly plagued by the problem of preventing electrical current from leaking outside its proper path as each generation of chips has moved closer to fundamental physical limits.
With today's transistor gates -- which consist of a piece of material that functions like a water faucet for electrical current -- approaching thicknesses of just five atomic layers, computer chips have come to require more power, which causes them to run much hotter.
Intel, the world's largest chip maker, has been struggling with the problem of excess heat as it has moved its manufacturing technology from etchings as small as 130 nanometers to the even narrower 90-nanometer limit. The measure refers to the length of a crucial component in the transistors that are the basic element of each generation.
Intel's chips have been running significantly hotter with each generation and there have been recent reports that its most advanced version of the Pentium, dubbed Prescott, has been delayed because of leakage woes.
The new Intel technology would not come into effect until about 2007, still perhaps three generations of chip advances into the future. The industry is just now making the transition to 90 nanometers. After that it hopes to scale down to 65 nanometers first, followed by a leap to just 45 nanometers, where the new material, which Intel refuses to identify, would come into play.
The semiconductor industry has been searching intensely for a new material to replace silicon dioxide, which is used as an insulator between the gate and the channel through which current flows when a transistor is switched on.
Intel has had a small team working on the problem of a replacement for silicon in its Hillsborough, Oregon, research laboratories for five years in an effort to continue to advance chip making technology at the relentless pace of Moore's law, which predicts that the number of transistors that can packed into the same space should double every 18 months.
"We want to continue on these short cycles," said Sunlin Chou, senior vice president and GM of Intel's Technology and Manufacturing Group, "even though there are those in the industry who are implying that we can't keep this pace."
A number of independent researchers and competitors said that the Intel announcement came in the most important research area in the chip industry. But several noted that the company's research paper was highly unusual in that it lacked technical details necessary for scientists to assess the impact of the announcement.
"This is going in the direction the whole industry is moving," said Bernard Meyerson, an IBM vice president who is in charge of the company's semiconductor research. But he warned that it was difficult to judge Intel's achievement because the company had chosen not to name the materials it is planning to use.
FRIDAY, SATURDAY: While Typhoon Champi might weaken, officials warned about large waves, while some transport services and tourist spots have been affected Typhoon Champi is forecast to have the greatest effect on Taiwan tomorrow and on Saturday, with a sea warning issued late last night and a land warning expected afternoon today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. The storm’s projected track has shifted slightly westward and it could begin moving away from Taiwan toward Japan’s Kyushu island on Saturday, with the warnings potentially lifted as early as Saturday afternoon, CWA forecaster Chang Cheng-chuan (張承傳) said. As of yesterday afternoon, Champi was about 910km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, CWA data showed. Its maximum sustained winds had weakened slightly to
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday urged China not to exploit typhoons to assert jurisdiction over the Taiwan Strait. The CGA issued the remarks after it found that China was shadowing eight Japan Coast Guard ships that sheltered in Taiwan proper’s western waters due to Typhoon Champi. Eight Japan Coast Guard (JCG) vessels sailed southward along the Taiwan Strait median line from 6am on Thursday, reaching waters southwest of Penghu County’s Cimei Island (七美島), outside Taiwan’s contiguous zone, which extends 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the territorial sea baseline, it said. As the Japanese ships prepared for the typhoon, they were followed by
STAY CAUTIOUS: Rain is expected to begin easing this afternoon, but a CWA forecaster said that if the storm stalls or loops on its approach, heavy winds are likely Typhoon Champi, which caused widespread damage and injuries, and prompted road closures and evacuations across Taiwan yesterday, is expected to continue to bring heavy rain this morning, with up to 900mm of rain forecast for mountainous areas of New Taipei City, Taoyuan and Yilan County, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. At one point a super typhoon and one of the strongest storms in the Pacific this year, Champi was packing gusts of about 191kph near its center as of 8:30pm, the CWA said. Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung, Taoyuan, Hsinchu city and county, Taichung; and Yilan, Miaoli, Changhua, Nantou, Yunlin
TOTAL COVERAGE: Champi’s outer band is expected to blanket the entire nation, with the center coming closest tonight or tomorrow before leaving tomorrow evening School and work across most of the nation has been canceled today, as Typhoon Champi is expected to skirt the northeast edge of Taiwan proper. As of 9pm, all municipalities except for Kinmen County had announced cancelations. Taitung County last night announced closures on Green Island (綠島) and Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼), but did not announce for the rest of the county until 6am today. Stock market settlements scheduled for today would be postponed to the next business day, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said. The announcements came after the Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday expanded its land warning for Champi to 19 regions
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