“IBM and AMD today claimed a ‘semiconductor manufacturing breakthrough’ based on strained silicon transistor technology that improves processor performance and power efficiency,” Robert Jaques reports for vnunet.com. “According to the companies, the process results in a potential 24 per cent transistor speed increase at the same power levels, compared to similar transistors produced without the technology.”
“The new strained silicon process, called ‘dual stress liner’, enhances the performance of both n-channel and p-channel transistors by stretching silicon atoms in one transistor and compressing them in the other,” Jaques reports. “The technique works without the introduction of costly new production techniques, allowing for rapid integration into volume manufacturing using standard tools and materials.”
“AMD intends gradually to integrate the strained silicon technology into all its 90nm processor platforms, including its future multi-core AMD 64 processors. The first 90nm AMD 64s using the technology are scheduled for the first half of 2005. IBM plans to introduce the technology on multiple 90nm processor platforms, including its Power Architecture-based chips, with the first products slated to begin shipping in the first half of 2005,” Jaques reports.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Note: The PowerPC G5 is based upon the execution core of IBM’s 64-bit POWER series processors, which drive IBM’s successful eBusiness servers and feature highly parallel processing, two double-precision floating-point units and advanced branch prediction logic. We would expect that this new ‘dual stress liner’ process will be used in PowerPC G5 production.
