RIP Silicon CPU - 38 years old A.D. 1970 - A.D. 2008

[OhioGuy]

Lately, I've been reading a lot about how Intel, IBM and now AMD have all
confirmed that their processors will be made of hafnium within the next
year. Intel will begin doing so late in the third quarter of this year, and
AMD expects to be doing so by mid 2008.

Evidently, hafnium allows them to produce processors with less electrical
"leakage", meaning faster CPU's with more circuits in them, and less
overheating. Intel expects to bring a 4 GHz hafnium cpu to market later this
year, and is currently producting test batches of them.

So, it is no longer a guess as to whether they will switch over from
silicon - it is a done deal. Demand for hafnium should increase greatly over
the next 18 months, as manufacturers such as Intel, IBM, AMD and others
start switching their fabrication lines over to take advantage of the new
material.

Hafnium comes from zirconium ore. Zirconium ore is composed of about 50
parts zirconium to 1 part hafnium. Hafnium usually costs between $200 to
$500 per pound, depending on purity.

Anyway, I found myself wondering if it might be prudent to invest in a
zirconium mine or hafnium extraction company now, in order to benefit from
the increased demand (and thus, higher price) for hafnium over the next
couple of years.

What do you guys think? Stupid idea? Good idea?

 

[Paul]

Lately, I've been reading a lot about how Intel, IBM and now AMD have all
confirmed that their processors will be made of hafnium within the next
year. Intel will begin doing so late in the third quarter of this year, and
AMD expects to be doing so by mid 2008.

Evidently, hafnium allows them to produce processors with less electrical
"leakage", meaning faster CPU's with more circuits in them, and less
overheating. Intel expects to bring a 4 GHz hafnium cpu to market later this
year, and is currently producting test batches of them.

So, it is no longer a guess as to whether they will switch over from
silicon - it is a done deal. Demand for hafnium should increase greatly over
the next 18 months, as manufacturers such as Intel, IBM, AMD and others
start switching their fabrication lines over to take advantage of the new
material.

Hafnium comes from zirconium ore. Zirconium ore is composed of about 50
parts zirconium to 1 part hafnium. Hafnium usually costs between $200 to
$500 per pound, depending on purity.

Anyway, I found myself wondering if it might be prudent to invest in a
zirconium mine or hafnium extraction company now, in order to benefit from
the increased demand (and thus, higher price) for hafnium over the next
couple of years.

What do you guys think? Stupid idea? Good idea?

In this article, the Hafnium is used as "hafnium-based high-k material in
the gate dielectric". That means the substrate is unchanged and is still
silicon. The Hafnium is used to make an insulation material for the gate.

http://www.intel.com/technology/silicon/45nm_technology.htm
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37253

Notice in the picture of the transistor, the Hafnium is the yellow material,
and forms only a tiny part of the transistor. It it probably not
raw Hafnium, as Hafnium is a metal. It is probably an oxide of some sort.

Hafnium oxide plus nitrogen is mentioned here:
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa025&articleID=742A3381-E7F2-99DF-3D54A13380979044

Article on Hafnium itself:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hafnium

Paul

 

[Bob Fry]

OG> Hafnium comes from zirconium ore....

OG> Anyway, I found myself wondering if it might be prudent to
OG> invest in a zirconium mine

No. Buy lots of zirconium diamonds from the late night TV shows.
They might become worth something now.