Tri-Gate<\/span><\/p>\nThe announcement marks a significant step forward in the commercial processor industry, which is constantly striving to build more transistors onto silicon chips.<\/p>\n
One of the main measures of its progress is how far apart these components sit, measured in nanometers.<\/p>\n
A human hair is around 60,000 nm wide. Current best microchip technology places transistors 32nm apart.<\/p>\n
It has been known for a long time that 22nm technology would form the next stage in the evolution of microprocessors.<\/p>\n
However, the exact nature of Intel’s offering has been a closely guarded secret, until now.<\/p>\n
The company expects to begin commercial production later this year.<\/p>\n
Kaizad Mistry, Intel’s 22nm program manager, said that the arrival of Tri-Gate transistors would make a big difference to consumer products.<\/p>\n
“What it enables in the market is improved power efficiency – so better performance for the same battery life or lower battery life for the same performance,” said Mr Mistry.<\/p>\n
In microprocessor design, a conducting channel passes through a switching gate which opens or closes – changing the output from 0 to 1.<\/p>\n
Until now, those channels have been “planar” or flat on the silicon wafer.<\/p>\n
Intel’s Tri-Gate system replaces the channels with 3D “fins”. Mr Mistry explained that the extra surface area made them more conductive, and able to work better on lower power.<\/p>\n
Moore’s law<\/span><\/p>\nThe Ivy Bridge design allows approximately twice as many transistors to be crammed into the same space as on 32nm chips.<\/p>\n
That improvement is consistent with Moore’s Law – the observation made by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore that chip density would double every two years.<\/p>\n
However, Intel, like other chip manufacturers, is getting closer and closer to certain physical limits which may prevent that from continuing.<\/p>\n
The next chip manufacturing process will will be 16nm, followed by 11nm.<\/p>\n
Atoms are typically around 0.5nm wide.<\/p>\n
Kaizad Mistry believes that the current rate of growth will continue for some time.<\/p>\n
“Gordon Moore himself said that no exponential is forever, but he would like us to delay that for as long as possible,” said Mr Mistry.<\/p>\n
“I have been in this industry since the mid-80s. At that time people were talking about the sub-micron barrier. There is always talk of a barrier.”<\/p>\n
Mr Mistry said that new innovations would keep processor design moving forward.<\/p>\n
Rival systems<\/span><\/p>\nIntel currently accounts for around 80% of global microprocessor sales, according to market analysts IDC.<\/p>\n
Its nearest rival, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has a 19% share.<\/p>\n
AMD was the first to produce a prototype 22nm chip in 2008.<\/p>\n
It is widely expected to pursue a similar fin-based system to Intel, known as FinFET.<\/p>\n
However, the company has yet to announce its plans for a commercial product.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n
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