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electronics. The single-chip cloud computer voltage scaling that has made it conducive
(SCC) - which has up to 20 times more for research and power efficient.”
processing power than its current Intel Core
presses ahead
processors - is still a prototype but has Intel is now looking at 32nm technology
significant potential. allowing for more semiconductors to be
placed on an integrated circuit. This will be
for vertically
Speaking to Daily News & Analysis India, the third-generation SCC, already moving
Vasantha Erraguntla, senior engineering on from the current 45 nanometre-
manager at Intel Labs, said: “The second technology used for the prototype. However,
grown silicon
generation 48-core chip - SCC - has half scientists could have to overcome future
the number of cores of its earlier generation problems of working with silicon at a
chip, 1.3 billion transistors and dynamic nanometre scale smaller than 15.
nanowires
GROWING SILICON nanowires vertically
can allow for more transistors to be placed
on to a chip, resulting in more powerful
electronics. However, the smaller the
nanoscale used, the more difficult it
becomes for researchers. At the end of
November, it was revealed that researchers
had learned how to create nanowires with
different semiconducting materials sharply
defined at the atomic level, bringing the
industry one step closer to a new
generation of ultrasmall transistors.
The team from IBM, the University of
California at Los Angeles and Purdue
University said the development was critical
for making efficient transistors out of
nanowires, which can also lead to more
powerful computer chips.
Indeed, the semiconductor industry is
constantly striving to meet the challenge set
by Moore’s law, which states that the
number of transistors on an integrated
circuit will double approximately every two
years without it increasing in size. The
nanowires consist of sharply defined layers
of silicon and germanium. Researchers
managed to grow the silicon nanowires
vertically, meaning more transistors could fit
on to a chip - this could help realise the
challenge of Moore’s law.
“But first we need to learn how to
manufacture nanowires to exacting
standards before industry can start using
them to produce transistors,” stated Eric
Stach, an associate professor of materials
engineering at Purdue.
Realising the need for more powerful chips,
Intel recently announced a concept chip
containing 48 cores on a single Intel
processor, allowing for more power being
available in a limited space. Following on
from the research, the organisation said it
was continuing to develop this to make
smaller and more efficient consumer
January/February 2010
www.compoundsemiconductor.net 9
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