While Gelsinger spoke of future applications, Chou focused on chip and transistor roadmaps, or release schedules. Nanotechnology, the science of manufacturing chips and other products with components measuring less than 100 nanometres (100 billionths of a metre) has already begun, he said. Transistor gates inside current chips measure 70 nanometres. Next year, the nanotechnology era will begin in earnest with the release of 90-nanometre chips, Chou added. Manufacturing chips with smaller dimensions, however, will take quite a number of technological breakthroughs as time goes on. For one thing, lithography, the science of printing circuit patterns onto chips, will have to change. Sometime in the decade, Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography will replace conventional lithography. The light wavelengths used in EUV measure only 13 nanometres compared with 193 nanometres for today's lithographic techniques. "It will be possible to paint much finer lines in the future," Chou said. "We have gone beyond the technologically feasible phase and into the commercial development phase." In a similar vein, Intel is experimenting with Atomic Layer Deposition, which lets manufacturers make chips by piling single layers of atoms on top of each other. "It relies on chemical properties to self-assemble," Chou said. Transistors will also change. Starting with 90-nanometre manufacturing, chips will incorporate strained silicon, an extra layer of silicon and germanium atoms that improves performance. The germanium atoms spread out the silicon atoms and make it easier for electrons to travel. Executives at Amberwave, a leading strained silicon developer, liken it to running through a forest with fewer trees. Later, layers of materials, such as high-k dielectrics, for preventing electron leakage will likely be incorporated. Further research, however, is required. The Tri-Gate transistor is in a similar phase. Current transistors contain a single, horizontal gate. By contrast, the Tri-Gate rises up like a microscopic mesa, and allows electrons to flow on the horizontal top and the two vertical sides. The company has manufactured test transistors and will disclose further details at a conference next week in Japan, Chou said. IBM and AMD are working on dual-gate transistors, both companies stated this week. Nanotubes and/or nanowires will follow. "These new materials aren't going to come in and sweep away the silicon base. They will come in incrementally," Chou said. Although Chou reiterated that it's way too early to tell which, if either, alternative will eventually be adopted, they are the two leading contenders. Carbon nanotubes are essentially hollow tubes that resemble a spool of chicken wire. Silicon nanowires, by contrast, are solid. Shatner, meanwhile, discussed his new book, "I'm Working on That", about how different scientists such as Stephen Hawking have used science fiction to direct their research. Many of the examples in the book focus on ideas found in Star Trek that eventually became products. However, few, if any, of the concepts propounded in T.J. Hooker, Shatner's mid-80s cop show, are discussed in the book. Gelsinger told Shatner that his favorite episode of Star Trek was "the one where you go back in time". Shatner's Capt. Kirk also apparently meets a woman and struggles with a decision, Gelsinger added. "That's 17 episodes," Shatner replied.
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