It's rare to see mainstream media outlets covering advancements in chipmaking process technology in any detail, let alone making it the biggest story of the day.
So I was shocked and pleasantly surprised when I saw that the news from Intel and IBM that they have solved the high-k dielectric and metal gate puzzles for their 45-nm front-end-of-line process technologies garnered the lead-story slot in Saturday's New York Times. That's right, not the lead story in the business or technology sections, but the lead story for the entire paper.
The NYT scooped other media outlets (and Intel scooped IBM, for that matter), most of which reported the story later that day or in their Sunday editions and broadcasts. My hometown paper, the Los Angeles Times, featured the news on the back page of its Sunday edition front section, while Associated Press's version came across the wires and showed up on the msnbc.com site, among others. It was cool to see my colleague and friend Dave Lammers get quoted in both the NYT and AP stories, though a bit odd since he has usually been the one getting the quotes (and scoops), not the one being quoted.
The LAT piece led with the word "Hafnium," in what must be the first time that element has ever appeared in such a journalistic capacity in a daily paper. (Yes, hafnium will be the high-k dielectric insulator material used by both companies.) The NYT story began with "Intel...has overhauled the basic building block of the information age...," a pseudo-profound technorevolutionary turn of phrase that likely induced shivers of delight among the media relations folks at the world's alpha-dog chipmaker.
Intel even trotted out Gordon Moore to say that "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." Since Gordon wrote the law that has become Intel's and the industry's mantra, then it must be true!
Penryn: The high-k dielectric is to die for. (Photo courtesy: Intel)
Buried deeper within the respective stories was the equally important news about another breakthrough---the replacement of silicon gates with metal ones. Neither Intel nor IBM disclosed what type of metals will be used, although Intel did note that it will use different metals for its nMOS and pMOS transistors. Both companies also claim that they used existing process equipment to carry out the work, although Intel mentions ALD as its depositional tool of choice for laying down the high-k gate dielectric materials. Intel is developing the processes for production of its high-k/metal gate--enhanced Penryn chip at its Hillsboro D1D fab and plans to ramp it into production at the company's new Fab 32 in Ocotillo, AZ, in late 2007, and at Fab 28 in Israel next year.
Curiously, Sematech announced late Friday that its researchers had found a way to integrate both nMOS and pMOS materials into high-k/metal gate stacks; up until this new slew of transistor-enhancement advancement announcements, getting pMOS materials to work had been a very thorny challenge. Why Sematech released the story so late on Friday, in what is usually considered a news-dumping---not a news-touting---time, is unclear: did they have a head's up on Intel's news and hope to get a "ride the coat-tails" effect? Or was it just a mere coincidence?
For anyone seeking more details on Intel's announcement, click here to go to the company's newly fortified 45-nm technology portion of its Website. And here's the link to IBM's press release.
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