Future of Computing,Transistors Go 3-D
Intel has announced a significant breakthrough in the evolution of the transistor, the microscopic building block of modern electronics. For the first time since the invention of silicon transistors more than 40 years ago, transistors using a three-dimensional structure will be put into high-volume manufacturing.
"Intel's scientists and engineers have once again reinvented the transistor, this time utilizing the third dimension," said Intel President and CEO Paul Otellini in the announcement. "Amazing, world-shaping devices will be created from this capability as we advance Moore's Law into new realms."
Let's take a look at this incredible breakthrough and what it means for the future of computing.
Transistors are the microscopic electrical components that form the building blocks of microprocessors. Over the last 4 decades, transistors have continually gotten smaller and more energy-efficient in accordance with Moore's Law, which states that transistor density will double approximately every 2 years, while increasing functionality and performance and decreasing costs. Intel's drive to keep pace with Moore's Law has resulted in ever smarter, faster, and more energy-efficient computing and communications devices.
Until now, Intel has been able to sustain this momentum by creating smaller transistors. The original transistor built by Bell Labs in 1947 was large enough that it was pieced together by hand. By contrast, more than 100 million 22 nm Tri-Gate transistors could fit onto the head of a pin. If a typical house shrunk the way transistors have, you would not be able to see the house without a microscope. On the other hand, to see a 22 nm feature with the naked eye, you would have to enlarge a chip to be larger than a house.
Even so, with Intel's 22 nm process technology, it was clear that merely shrinking the transistor would not be enough. A radical redesign would be necessary.
After a decade of research, Intel has invented the solution. Intel® transistors have entered the third dimension. The new 3-D transistors, called Tri-Gate, are now being put into high-volume manufacturing. They will be the basis of 3rd generation Intel® Core™ processors, which will appear in computers and other devices worldwide this year!
Fun Fact: A 22nm Tri-Gate transistor’s gates are so small, you could fit more than 4,000 of them across the width of a human hair.
To understand why a 3-D transistor was necessary, let's look at how transistors are designed. Transistors consist of 2 parts:
1. A form of silicon that creates a stream through which electrons flow
2. A gate made of metal over a high-K insulator that controls the flow of electrons in that stream
Intel® planar transistor
The gate acts as a switch, turning the flow of electrons on and off. For the best performance, the gate must let the maximum amount of current go through when in the “on” state. At the same time, for energy-efficiency, it must let through as close to zero current as possible in the “off” state. And it must be able to switch very quickly between the 2 states—again for performance.
Taking Transistors to the Next Level
Intel needed a way to increase the electron stream while maintaining energy efficiency. Simply making the already microscopic transistor smaller was not going to achieve the necessary improvements. So Intel did what urban planners all over the globe have done when faced with the challenge of fitting more people into limited space. They built up.
The 3-D Tri-Gate transistor replaces the 2-D electron stream with an incredibly thin, three-dimensional silicon fin (1) that rises up vertically from the silicon substrate. The new transistor features 3 gates (2)—one on each side of the fin and one along the top—giving the transistor its Tri-Gate name.
These gates allow very fine control of the current and enable the new transistors to operate at a lower voltage with lower leakage than ever before. As a result, they provide a performance increase of up to 37 percent at low voltage compared to Intel's 32 nm planar transistors. What's more, when these transistors operate at the same performance as their 32 nm predecessors, they consume less than half the power!1 These incredible gains make them ideal for use in small handheld devices, which maintain their long battery life by using less energy to "switch" back and forth.
"The performance gains and power savings of Intel's unique 3-D Tri-Gate transistors are like nothing we've seen before," said Mark Bohr, Intel Senior Fellow. "The low-voltage and low-power benefits far exceed what we typically see from one process generation to the next. It will give product designers the flexibility to make current devices smarter and wholly new ones possible. We believe this breakthrough will extend Intel's lead even further over the rest of the semiconductor industry."
Continuing the Pace of Innovation
Intel's 22 nm Tri-Gate transistors are just the beginning of what can be done with this new breakthrough in transistor design. Since the 3-D fins are vertical in nature, transistors can be packed closer together for greater performance. Designers can also grow the height of the fins to get even more performance and energy-efficiency gains.
This important invention from Intel is opening the door to a new generation of innovations in every category—from the fastest supercomputers to the smallest handheld devices!
"Intel's scientists and engineers have once again reinvented the transistor, this time utilizing the third dimension," said Intel President and CEO Paul Otellini in the announcement. "Amazing, world-shaping devices will be created from this capability as we advance Moore's Law into new realms."
Let's take a look at this incredible breakthrough and what it means for the future of computing.
Entering the Third Dimension
Transistors are the microscopic electrical components that form the building blocks of microprocessors. Over the last 4 decades, transistors have continually gotten smaller and more energy-efficient in accordance with Moore's Law, which states that transistor density will double approximately every 2 years, while increasing functionality and performance and decreasing costs. Intel's drive to keep pace with Moore's Law has resulted in ever smarter, faster, and more energy-efficient computing and communications devices.
Fun Fact: More than 100 million 22nm Tri-Gate transistors could fit onto the head of a pin!
Until now, Intel has been able to sustain this momentum by creating smaller transistors. The original transistor built by Bell Labs in 1947 was large enough that it was pieced together by hand. By contrast, more than 100 million 22 nm Tri-Gate transistors could fit onto the head of a pin. If a typical house shrunk the way transistors have, you would not be able to see the house without a microscope. On the other hand, to see a 22 nm feature with the naked eye, you would have to enlarge a chip to be larger than a house.
Even so, with Intel's 22 nm process technology, it was clear that merely shrinking the transistor would not be enough. A radical redesign would be necessary.
After a decade of research, Intel has invented the solution. Intel® transistors have entered the third dimension. The new 3-D transistors, called Tri-Gate, are now being put into high-volume manufacturing. They will be the basis of 3rd generation Intel® Core™ processors, which will appear in computers and other devices worldwide this year!
Fun Fact: A 22nm Tri-Gate transistor’s gates are so small, you could fit more than 4,000 of them across the width of a human hair.
The Basics of Transistor Design
To understand why a 3-D transistor was necessary, let's look at how transistors are designed. Transistors consist of 2 parts:
1. A form of silicon that creates a stream through which electrons flow
2. A gate made of metal over a high-K insulator that controls the flow of electrons in that stream
Intel® planar transistor
The gate acts as a switch, turning the flow of electrons on and off. For the best performance, the gate must let the maximum amount of current go through when in the “on” state. At the same time, for energy-efficiency, it must let through as close to zero current as possible in the “off” state. And it must be able to switch very quickly between the 2 states—again for performance.
Fun Fact: A 22 nm transistor can switch on and off well over 100 billion times in 1 second. It would take you around 2000 years to flick a light switch on and off that many times!
Taking Transistors to the Next Level
Intel needed a way to increase the electron stream while maintaining energy efficiency. Simply making the already microscopic transistor smaller was not going to achieve the necessary improvements. So Intel did what urban planners all over the globe have done when faced with the challenge of fitting more people into limited space. They built up.
The 3-D Tri-Gate transistor replaces the 2-D electron stream with an incredibly thin, three-dimensional silicon fin (1) that rises up vertically from the silicon substrate. The new transistor features 3 gates (2)—one on each side of the fin and one along the top—giving the transistor its Tri-Gate name.
These gates allow very fine control of the current and enable the new transistors to operate at a lower voltage with lower leakage than ever before. As a result, they provide a performance increase of up to 37 percent at low voltage compared to Intel's 32 nm planar transistors. What's more, when these transistors operate at the same performance as their 32 nm predecessors, they consume less than half the power!1 These incredible gains make them ideal for use in small handheld devices, which maintain their long battery life by using less energy to "switch" back and forth.
"The performance gains and power savings of Intel's unique 3-D Tri-Gate transistors are like nothing we've seen before," said Mark Bohr, Intel Senior Fellow. "The low-voltage and low-power benefits far exceed what we typically see from one process generation to the next. It will give product designers the flexibility to make current devices smarter and wholly new ones possible. We believe this breakthrough will extend Intel's lead even further over the rest of the semiconductor industry."
Fun Fact: A quad-core 3rd generation Intel® Core™ processor contains 1.48 billion transistors. If transistors were people, Intel’s chip has more transistors than the population of China at approximately 1.3 billion people.
Continuing the Pace of Innovation
Intel's 22 nm Tri-Gate transistors are just the beginning of what can be done with this new breakthrough in transistor design. Since the 3-D fins are vertical in nature, transistors can be packed closer together for greater performance. Designers can also grow the height of the fins to get even more performance and energy-efficiency gains.
This important invention from Intel is opening the door to a new generation of innovations in every category—from the fastest supercomputers to the smallest handheld devices!
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