Intel Smashes Transistor Limitations

November 5, 2003 | Source: PC World

Intel is trumpeting a technology breakthrough it says will lead to billion-transistor processors by 2007.

The new technology should enable Intel to keep creating smaller, faster transistors for future chips, and keep pace with Moore’s Law well into the next decade, said Ken David, director of components research for Intel’s Technology and Manufacturing Group.

The development would overcome power and heat problems that would eventually limit Intel’s capability to create smaller and faster transistors. Intel says it found a replacement for silicon dioxide that offers a high “K” (dielectric constant) value. Transistors based on it work much faster and operate cooler at a mere fraction of the current leakage.