Comments on: IBM, AMD speed chips http://www.p2pnet.net/story/3275 p2pnet.net - reader powered Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:11:09 -0300 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Reader's Write http://www.p2pnet.net/story/3275/comment-page-1#comment-7741 Reader's Write Thu, 16 Dec 2004 04:41:01 +0000 #comment-7741 Silicon is good because silicon is cheap and available. Other materials are hard to be forced at 90-nm, some of them are hard to be made with 1um litography scales. The stretching is in fact just a 1 or 2% increase in the grid spacing. the atoms are just crystallized differently (I heard that AMD used grid-on-grid type stretching). Reliability stays the same. In other words: it is a more controlled basic SOI layer deposition process, that became comercially available. I also heard rumors that only one isotope of silicon has to be used for this process. Or is it one isotope (lighter) over another isotope (heavier)? That would make sense. The purity of the silicon is today almost absolute, so mass using only one isotope is only a small step. Silicon is good because silicon is cheap and available. Other materials are hard to be forced at 90-nm, some of them are hard to be made with 1um litography scales.
The stretching is in fact just a 1 or 2% increase in the grid spacing. the atoms are just crystallized differently (I heard that AMD used grid-on-grid type stretching). Reliability stays the same. In other words: it is a more controlled basic SOI layer deposition process, that became comercially available. I also heard rumors that only one isotope of silicon has to be used for this process. Or is it one isotope (lighter) over another isotope (heavier)? That would make sense. The purity of the silicon is today almost absolute, so mass using only one isotope is only a small step.

]]> By: Reader's Write http://www.p2pnet.net/story/3275/comment-page-1#comment-7717 Reader's Write Wed, 15 Dec 2004 00:03:56 +0000 #comment-7717 I'm a little sceptical of the physics behind this (which is mentioned elsewhere). I think molecular bonds can be stretched but atoms can not be stretched (at leadst for any perceptable length of time). That is to say the separation between the silicon atoms can be stretched but the atoms themselves are not stretched in anyway. I would think that any chips based on stretched material would be far more likely to breakdown under voltage due to the stressed nature of the material. It's time for the chip industry to move away from silicon. I’m a little sceptical of the physics behind this (which is mentioned elsewhere).
I think molecular bonds can be stretched but atoms can not be stretched (at leadst for any perceptable length of time).
That is to say the separation between the silicon atoms can be stretched but
the atoms themselves are not stretched in anyway. I would think that any chips based on stretched material would be far more likely to breakdown under voltage due to the stressed nature of the material.

It’s time for the chip industry to move away from silicon.

]]> By: Reader's Write http://www.p2pnet.net/story/3275/comment-page-1#comment-7671 Reader's Write Mon, 13 Dec 2004 21:45:59 +0000 #comment-7671 AMD kicking some tail again. AMD kicking some tail again.

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