For nearly half a century, the industry has followed Moore’s Law, which says that the number of components on integrated circuits such as silicon computer processors will roughly double every couple of years, while the cost per component declines at a commensurate rate. But scientists recently have feared that they were bumping up against physical barriers.

In January, IBM and Intel announced competing breakthroughs in the use of a new metal called hafnium to replace silicon in one key part of the semiconductor where transistors were leaking current. Intel is expected to start making hafnium-based chips during the second half of this year. IBM is expected to roll out its chips with hafnium in 2008.

With its latest announcement, “IBM is hoisting a flag on Moore’s Law,” said Bob Djurdjevic, president of Annex Research, a market research and consulting company in Scottsdale, Arizona. “What it does immediately for IBM is earn it some bragging rights.”

IBM expects to use the new chip-making process for its own products, such as servers, but also to license it to partners such as Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Sony Corp. and Toshiba Corp., Sanchez said. He said the new technology could be adapted by any manufacturing line without many changes.
_Michelle Quinn(Los Angeles Times)