Intel announced that it is producing its first 45 nm process prototypes using two new materials
Intel is the first to implement an innovative combination of new materials that drastically reduces transistor leakage and increases performance in its 45nm process technology. The company will use a new material with a property called high-k, for the transistor gate dielectric, and a new combination of metal materials for the transistor gate electrode.
The company believes that it can leverage these new technologies to ensure that Moore’s law extends well into the next decade. Intel claims it’s still on track for 45 nm processors in production by the second half of this year and, bonus: we have a new codename. Penryn is the name for the 45 nm family. *sigh*
The release is actually fairly technical and has a few more details. You might want to check it out if you roll that way.
[…] Penryn is the forthcoming family using 45nm and the new “hi-k” gates that all the kids are talking about (we talked about it too: here, here, here, and a couple other places I’m too lazy to paste in). Six Penryn family processors, including dual and quad-core desktop processors and a dual core mobile processor are all under the Intel Core processor brand name as well as new dual and quad-core server processors under the Intel® Xeon® processor brand name. A processor for higher-end server multiprocessing systems is also under development. As previously noted, Intel already has a total of 15 45nm products scheduled. […]