Planar (or flat) transistors were conceived in the late 1950s and have been the basic building block of chips since the dawn of the semiconductor industry. As semiconductor technology moves deeper into the realm of nanotechnology (dimensions smaller than 100 nm), where some transistor features may consist of only a few layers of atoms, what was previously thought of as “flat” is now being designed in three dimensions for improved performance and power characteristics. Intel, leading the industry in producing high volumes of ever smaller chip geometries, has created a way to use these three-dimensional, or tri-gate, transistors in concert with other key semiconductor technologies to enable a new era of energy-efficient performance.
Tri-gate transistors are likely to play a critical role in Intel’s future energy efficient performance capabilities because they offer considerably lower leakage and consume much less power than today's planar transistors. Compared to today's 65nm transistors, integrated tri-gate transistors can offer a 45 percent increase in drive current (switching speed) or 50 times reduction in off-current, and 35 percent reduction in transistor switching power. Increased performance and reduced energy consumption improve the experience for users of PCs and other devices using Intel platforms.
