SemiSerious

Yesterday marked the dawn of a new era of scaling for CMOS devices. I hope that statement fits with all the hype around the launch of the 45nm microprocessor from Intel. In fairness, though, switching to metal gates and high-k dielectrics represents an important milestone in semiconductor technology. Gordon Moore’s well-worn comments are appropriate:

“The implementation of high-k and metal materials marks the biggest change in transistor technology since the introduction of polysilicon gate MOS transistors in the late 1960s.”

Intel released TEM images of its 45nm PMOS transistor. The embedded SiGe source / drains are evident, but we’ve all seen those before. For his keynote, Paul Otellini seemed confident that we could not tell what Intel’s secret sauce in the dielectric and workfunction metals was, but they had something to hide on top of the gate stack. We can’t see the CMP surface, but that’s a no-brainer for a replacement gate (aka gate last) technique. I think they want to keep the capping material on top of the gate electrode hidden until they present at IEDM (Paper 10.2). At about 9:30 on the morning of December 11 in Washington, DC, Kaizad Mistry will open the trench coat on the 45nm HKMG process. Considering the secrecy Intel has been able to maintain on this process, I think the trench coat is a fair reference. Intel deserves full marks for keeping its employees and vendors quiet for so long. Steve Jobs is jealous, I’m sure.

Or maybe he’s not. SI will be opening the kimono on the Penryn this Friday to all our clients participating in the analysis. Intel will still generate lots of excitement at IEDM (at least if you aren’t analyzing 45nm or buying one of our reports).

There’s been much hype and there will be much more.  The Penryn MPU hit Time magazine’s list of best inventions of 2007 along with the iPhone cover girl. Intel may covet the iPhone socket and may well win it for next generation devices, but there may could be another connection to Time’s list. NASA’s methane powered rocket might one day look to the Intel marketing machine as a steady source of fuel.

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