45-Nanometer-Hafnium-based-High- k-dielectric-Metal-Gate… Huh??

posted by kariaakre on November 19, 2007

“Hafnium high-k, what?” you ask? What does it all mean?

Yes, I know. To many of us this all sounds like a bunch of technical mumbo jumbo and makes us all feel like we’re back in high school chemistry class.

A week ago Intel launched its first 45nm processors. As part of the launch and in the months leading up to it, we talked a lot about how these processors were made with reinvented transistors.

Basically Intel’s engineers developed a new recipe for the hundreds of millions of transistors that make up these processors. Instead of silicon dioxide, we’re using a Hafnium-based high-k material for the insulating part of the transistor. And instead of silicon for the gate that turns the transistor on and off, we’re using metal materials. Combined, these new materials prevent the transistors from leaking electrical current while still allowing them to switch on and off faster.

Get it, yet?

Ok, if you want to know what this really means to you, to your family, to the IT managers at major businesses around the world, and if you want to know why you should care, watch this video. I promise it will all make more sense.

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10 Responses to 45-Nanometer-Hafnium-based-High- k-dielectric-Metal-Gate… Huh??

  1. Arpit Jacob says:
    November 28, 2007 at 8:54 am

    Wow Great video. Hopefully they put these babies into Mac book pros and Dell XPS by end of JAN 08.

  2. Sy Haber says:
    December 13, 2007 at 9:40 am

    45 billionths is not 1/45,000,000,000

  3. Nick Maskal says:
    December 18, 2007 at 1:35 pm

    yeah it is.
    45 billionths = 4.5×10^-10 = 1/4.5^10 = 1/45,000,000,000

  4. chris says:
    December 19, 2007 at 9:59 am

    No, it isn’t.
    45 billionths = 45 * 1 billionth = 45 * 1/1,000,000,000 = 45/1,000,000,000
    your math is so wrong it hurts…
    4.5*10^-10 = 1/4.5^10 …wtf?!?!?
    I hope for the sake of the world that you’re joking

  5. Kari says:
    January 23, 2008 at 4:58 pm

    We try to be careful and accurate whenever showing and talking about the complexities of what our engineers make, but this time we missed a typo. The correct equation is 45 / 1,000,000,000 and the video has been edited. A tiny fraction, but a big mistake on our part. Thanks for caring and setting us straight and sorry it took us a while to get it fixed.

  6. Nick Maskal says:
    February 7, 2008 at 2:18 pm

    wow I’m a n00b. my bad haha.

  7. chetan says:
    February 10, 2008 at 3:49 am

    wow!!!!!!!!! awesome processor …. its realy fast …………. waiting for it to get launched in india

  8. Team Intel says:
    February 27, 2008 at 6:23 am

    Thanks so many for the informations…

  9. trevor says:
    February 27, 2008 at 11:50 pm

    Am more curious when these babies comes out the market. Things really get smaller and faster these days… :-)

  10. joey says:
    May 16, 2008 at 10:54 am

    im a science freak.i love science.