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IBM Demonstrates High-k/Metal Gate Chips
Last summer we discussed twin announcements from Intel and IBM/AMD about a new chip manufacturing technology dubbed high-k/metal gate. Intel is using the tech to improve speed and power consumption in its 45-nm chips. IBM, along with its manufacturing partners, just demonstrated chips it says show that high-k/metal gate technology at 32 nm can result in performance gains up to 30% and power savings up to 50%, compared to 45-nm process. IBM plans to be manufacturing 32 nm parts by the end of 2009. (AMD is not using high-k/metal gate yet, but it has access to the technology by virtue of its agreements with IBM.)
32nm is still bigger than Rob Malda's wang.
The new Penryn chips in Apple's MacBook and MacBook Pro lines of laptops are all Intel High-K 32nm.
But Germanium-Arsonide is a much-neglected technology that could do with more investment, as it should do much better than silicon.
Germanium-anything counts as a dead-end road, due to the vanishingly small amount of it available on this planet. For a few specialty parts here and there, it works great. Start using it on the same scale we currently use silicon, and we'll run out in under a year.