Chip-Shrinking May Be Nearing Its Limits

By JORDAN ROBERTSON, AP Technology Writer, Technology / Semiconductors

Computer History Museum senior curator Dag Spicer looks at a replica of the first transistor at the museum in Mountain View, Calif., Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2007. The first transistor was built 60 years ago on Dec. 16, 1947. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

(AP) -- Sixty years after transistors were invented and nearly five decades since they were first integrated into silicon chips, the tiny on-off switches dubbed the "nerve cells" of the information age are starting to show their age.

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Posted by guiding_light 12/15/07 22:49

Rank: 4.2/5 after 5 votes

At IEDM this past week, Intel referenced its gate length to be 35 nm which is no change from the previous 65 nm generation. It was a bit surprising since they already introduced their high-k gate dielectric to reduce leakage, would have expected the Lg shrink to have continued.

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Posted by Ragtime 12/15/07 23:23

Rank: 3.3/5 after 6 votes

The computer chips are just 2D by now - so I can see here a lotta space for further integration, if they become layered or of more pronounced 3D surface morphology even without substantial changes of current technology.

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Posted by wesgeorge 12/16/07 00:51

Rank: 2.8/5 after 4 votes

Actually, Gordon Moore's original paper from which Moore's Law is derived, shows a graph defining transistor growth as doubling every 12 months, not TWO years. I suppose if you add the modifier "commercially viable" then closer to two years is cool. But that's not what the man originally said. The real pace has been more like 18 months.

ftp://download.in...icle.pdf

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Posted by RAL 12/16/07 05:24

Rank: 3.7/5 after 3 votes

A well written story which balances predictions of slowed progress with caveats that such predictions have not been borne out in the past. This is the kind of rationale and considered approach to science and technology that we need.

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Posted by out7x 12/19/07 03:56

Rank: 1/5 after 1 vote

This article misstates heat to be something good. Heat is a problem.