Strained Silicon Chips From Intel

Quirk writes "NewScientist is reporting... "Intel has taken the wraps off a secret technique it is using'Strained silicon' chips to increase the speed of its Pentium and Centrino chips. The technique boosts the rate at which transistors switch, without having to make them smaller.""

Comments

Finally Caught On

[rkz]

Chip Architect was speculating on this way back when intel's 64 bit extensions were still called Yamhill. They make some interesting observations that lead them to belive the second 32 bit ALU was to allow for 64 bit integer operations in a 2x32 bit format. And not to assist with eliminating resource shortages in HT as some others had suggested.
And even if that does pan out it's highly unlikley to appear in desktop Prescott core chips anytime soon. Seems much more like something you'd find in Xeon MPs and later DPs to eliminate the need for that hack they call PAE.
Though i hardly see how 'somebody told us a seinor exec said' makes Slashdot.' (I understand that's what the Inquirier bases most of their news on, i thought we had slightly higher standards of reliability)

Re:Way behind competitors still

[ProtonMotiveForce]

Let's see, diamond products that will be to market anytime soon? Oh, wait, _ZERO_.

Strained silicon? _SEVERAL_.

Is there any kind of self editing process when you post like this? I mean, do you ever stop to think that maybe the severel people running the multibillion dollar company and the best technical minds in the industry just _may_ know a little more than you on this subject?

Or, more likely, you just read something, hear the vague sounds of a banjo playing in your head, and pound on the keyboard until something resembling a paragraph takes form?