Intel's 3D Tri-Gate transistors get smaller, faster, more energy efficient (photos)
Intel's Tri-Gate transistors usher in the next era of Moore's Law and open the door to a new generation of innovation.
James Martin
James Martin was the Managing Editor of Photography at CNET.
His photos capture technology's impact on society - from the widening wealth gap in San Francisco, to the European refugee crisis and Rwanda's efforts to improve health care.
From the technology pioneers of Google and Facebook, photographing Apple's Steve Jobs and Tim Cook, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Google's Sundar Pichai, to the most groundbreaking launches at Apple and NASA, his was a dream job for any documentary photography and journalist with a love for technology.
Exhibited widely, syndicated and reprinted thousands of times over the years, James follows the people and places behind the technology changing our world, bringing their stories and ideas to life.
Intel today announced what it called a major technical breakthrough and historic innovation in microprocessing, introducing a 3D transistor called Tri-Gate that will result in both performance and power improvements in the 22-nanometer "Ivy Bridge" chips.
Dadi Perlmutter, executive vice president and general manager of Intel's architecture group, holds a silicon wafer produced using the new 22nm 3D manufacturing process.
2 of 8James Martin/CNET
3D transistors mean energy savings and improved performance
A fundamental departure from the standard two-dimensional transistor structure, these 3D Tri-Gate transistors enable chips to operate at lower voltage and with less energy leakage. At the 22nm production level, 22-billionths of a meter, there will be a 37 percent performance increase versus Intels' 32nm transistors.
3 of 8James Martin/CNET
3D Tri-Gate transistors
Previously, conducting channels moved along a flat plane through the gate, but the 22nm Tri-Gate transistor forms conducting channels on three sides of a vertical fin.
4 of 8James Martin/CNET
3D Tri-Gate transistors
An extreme close-up of 3D Intel's new Tri-Gate transistors shows the honeycomb like structure.
5 of 8James Martin/CNET
Intel's continuation of Moore's Law
Intel says that ultimately the new 3D transistors will allow the company to continue on the path of Moore's Law, making future devices faster and more energy efficient.
6 of 8James Martin/CNET
Intel Executive VP Dadi Perlmutter
Intel Executive VP Dadi Perlmutter shows off a laptop used to prototype the capabilities of the new 3D transistors.
7 of 8James Martin/CNET
Dadi Perlmutter, Mark Bohr, and Bill Holt
Intel Executive VP Dadi Perlmutter, left, Senior Fellow Mark Bohr, and Senior VP Bill Holt take questions following the unveiling of Intel's new 3D transistor structure Wednesday in San Francisco.
8 of 8James Martin/CNET
Showing off Intel's new transistors
Hardware used internally to test Intel's new 3D transistor structure shows off the capabilities of the next-generation chips.
