Intel has demonstrated that there are no fundamental barriers to extending Moore's Law for another decade by building the world's fastest silicon transistors. These transistors, featuring structures just 20 nanometers (nm) in size, will allow Intel to build microprocessors containing a billion transistors, running at speeds approaching 20 gigahertz and operating at less than one volt in approximately 2007.

Intel Labs researchers disclosed this advance on June 10th in Kyoto, Japan at the 2001 Silicon Nanoelectronics Workshop, a conference for semiconductor engineers and scientists.

This research demonstrates that Intel is already well into the nanotechnology realm using silicon," said Dr. Gerald Marcyk, director of the Components Research Lab in Intel's Technology and Manufacturing Group. "Our transistor research shows that we are able to extend Moore's Law scaling for at least another three generations beyond our current technologies.

Many researchers have speculated that nanotechnology would replace silicon in the future, but Intel's research illustrates that silicon and nanotechnology are in fact complementary.

"We still have not found a fundamental limit for making silicon transistors smaller," added Dr. Robert Chau, Intel Fellow and director of transistor research, Intel Logic Technology Development. "The pace of silicon development is accelerating, not decelerating."

The 20 nm transistors, developed by researchers from Intel Labs, are 30 percent smaller and 25 percent faster than the industry's current fastest transistors, also developed by Intel researchers within the last year. (Note: A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter). Smaller transistors are faster, and fast transistors are the key building block for fast microprocessors, the brains of computers and countless other smart devices. These transistors will be the basis of Intel's 45 nanometer (0.045-micron) process generation, which the company plans to have in production in approximately 2007.

For more information on Intel silicon technology research, visit Intel's new Silicon Showcase at www.intel.com/research/silicon. For information on other Intel Labs' research projects, visit www.intel.com/labs

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