Intel, AMD to debut 45nm chips

Just two weeks ago, we discussed the slowing of Moore's Law in recent years and wondered if modern CPUs would ever have a chance of catching up to the curve. As if answering that rhetorical question, both Intel and AMD announced major breakthroughs in CPU manufacturing on Friday, that will allow both companies to transition their manufacturing lines to an almost mind-bendingly small 45nm process. The key to this breakthrough sounds simple enough: using metal instead of silicon to build the transistor gates, the most basic switches in a transistor. In reality, however, this is a major step for the microprocessor industry, which has been working to clear the performance limitations imposed by complex engineering hurdles for years. "When you've been using silicon dioxide and polysilicon gates for 40 years and make that jump to a different set of materials, and surpass that performance, it's quite an achievement," said Mark Bohr, director of Intel's advanced transistor research.

Intel announced the new technology at a press conference Thursday, where the company demonstrated machines running on 45nm chips from the company's new Penryn line of chips, which are set to debut later this year. IBM and AMD, who are involved in a processor research partnership, also announced that they will build 45nm chips using a similar method. The AMD chips are scheduled to ship in 2008.

For more on the breakthrough:
- see this CNET article on the new manufacturing process
- or this one on Intel's Penryn chips
- and this Ars Technica article