News AMD, IBM develop 45nm high-k metal gate transistor

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2007/07/30/amd_and_ibm_also_have_high-k_metal_gate_45nm/1

Intel isn't the only one to sport high-k metal gate transistors: AMD and IBM have joined forces to develop their own high-k 45nm process.

 

What's needed is a picture of the tip of a biro or something similar to accentuate the sheer smallness of the transistor. For all I know, my cpu could be filled with a billion fluffy bunnies.

 

the tip of the biro would engulf the whole image i believe - maybe a human hair could be put next to it ...

 

From which area of the body?, as they normally differ in thickness.

Lets play Higher or Lower

 

The article "logical conclusions" could link it's story to this news of new innovation from intel&IBM, AMD is getting around the corner, whilst intel has nerd scouts for high schools.. They invest so much in their "creative recruitment" and development.

Inel has merely reinvented the Pentium M.... and now shrinking it.

 

A biro tip is too large. They're usually 1mm or so in diameter, so you could fit about 45,000 gates in a line over the visible part of the ball tip. The width of a typical human hair is about 80 µm, making it a bit better for comparison. The gate is 45 nanometres across, making them about 1800 times smaller than that. Here's a rough diagram (it's a large image so that the 2px transistor is visible).

The transistor is obviously larger than just the gate but it gives you an idea of the ridiculous scale involved.

 

You're talking nanometers, and human hairs are far far larger still. Remember it's HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS in the space of your fingernail, and you're seeing only part of one in that picture.

 

The other way round to do the comparison is how big would a chip be if the gate or the transistor was the size of a smartie or something.

 

Holy crap, that's quite small.

 

The die size of these 45nm chips is apparently going to be 107 mm². If the gate was the size of a Smartie, then your Smartie processor die would have an area of be 107 mm² * (1.1cm / 48nm)² = about 5.6 million m² (5.6 km²). Take your pick, but that's either 21,000 tennis courts, 4500 Olympic-size swimming pools, 900 football pitches, or 22 times the floor area of the Empire State Building.

 

I think the word required here is.... "blimey".. or something to that effect.

So when they design a processor, without any of the actual "designing it" or making it work, just the shear leg-work, it is the same as sorting and lining up enough smarties to cover 21,000 tennis courts! Wowzer!

Thanks for doing the sums

 

Sorry, quoted wrong.
New post below

 

Yes, and then connecting them in 3-D over 9 layers

Cheers,

Xir