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The countdown to 45nm production starts
Author: Phil CogarPublished: 12th September 2007
Courtesy of Intel, this image shows just how small a 45nm chip is compared to a US dime.
As Tim explained earlier this year, high-k and metal gate transistors are a great step away from today's use of a silicon dioxide as a dielectric. High-k gates use Hafnium-based material as a dielectric which allows the die to be shrunk even further without risking a massive amount of current leakage that happens with current materials.
Current silicon gate electrodes aren't compatible with this new material so Intel's R&D has had to design a new metal electrode in order to solve the problem. Right now though, the company is keeping the exact metals being used under wraps but we're bound to find out eventually.
Basically what all of this means is that Intel will be able to shrink transistor sizes even further in the future with less current leakage in the chips. This, in turn, will lead to faster, cooler processors that are more power efficient than current processors. The first core that will use this new production process is the "Penryn" which is a refresh of the current "Core" microarchitecture.
"Penryn" won't just be a simple convert over to the new manufacturing process either as it will have 50 new SSE4 instructions, new power features, and more L2 cache then ever before. When "Penryn" launches later this year, it is already set to bring processing to a whole new level from what we know it today.
Excited about where this new production process could lead us in the future? Mark your thoughts over in the forums or in the comment section below.
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Comments (24)Stats: 0.044 seconds
...no sarcasm
Yes, it is a 775 system, and i think that a few nforce 6 boards are 45nm tech compatible, with just a bios update.
If someone has any other info to prove im right or wrong, just shoot me:P
Sam
i may just give up trying to keep up with CPU
Yep, Yorkfield and Wolfdale (the desktop versions of Penryn) are both LGA775 :)
I believe you meant hafnium, chemical symbol Hf. (See? College is good for something.)
I'm so proud you caught a typo. What's the chemical symbol for "overeager pedantic git"?
(typo is now fixed, for those of you straining your eyes to find it)
I'd wait, it's only 44 days
thats when they start building they wont be shipping them on the same day lol
lmao.
well my ds2r is ready :) bearlake
go on i challenge you to even measure that size with a ruler
now my new new rig is on the train to be being dated.. no wait, its already boarded and loaded! BAH!!
Does that mean my socket 775 NF4 won't be able to cope with 45nm processors, even with a bios update? Apart from the manufacturing techniques, and a change in clock speed/core numbers etc talking to them can't be that different can it?
"cooler" actually makes me think proper cold. Which isn't the case. Should say, "less hot" -- more acurate :)
I'm pretty sure I heard that native quad core is later in 08 for Intel