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Hafnium (IPA: /ˈhæfniəm/) is a chemical element in the periodic table that has the symbol Hf and atomic number 72 (Silicon, SI on the other hand has atomic number of 14). A lustrous, silvery gray tetravalent transition metal, hafnium resembles zirconium chemically and is found in zirconium minerals. Hafnium is used in tungsten alloys in filaments and electrodes and also acts as a neutron absorber in control rods in nuclear power plants. Hafnium-containing compounds are today the leading contenders to become a new breed of semiconductor material called high-k dielectrics for their high dielectric constant. A number of chemical companies are jockeying to become suppliers of these new compounds, knowing full well that they are playing a perilous game because semiconductor makers try to hang on to familiar materials for as long as they can. High-k materials are being developed for use in the transistor, the guts of the semiconductor. Specifically, they will function as the gate insulator, a thin layer in the transistor that separates the gate, which turns current flow on and off, from the channel through which the current flows. More details here hafnium Chip In the 1980s, the typical semiconductor contained silicon and a dozen other elements. By the 1990s, the figure had crept up to about 15. The year 2000, however, saw the start of an explosion in the use of new materials in semiconductor production. Driven by Moore's law--the prediction by Intel cofounder Gordon Moore that the number of transistors in a computer chip would double every two years--the semiconductor industry is plumbing the depths of the periodic table to find materials that will aid in that miniaturization. Two chip-making giants will use another substance, a metal called hafnium, to replace silicon in one key part of the semiconductor, each company said Saturday. The competing breakthroughs from Intel Corp. and IBM Corp. should silence doubts, at least for several years, that the industry can prolong the decades-long trend of pushing semiconductor performance while cutting size and cost, researchers said. Intel, the world's largest computer chip maker, promoted the successful use of hafnium and other so-called high-k materials as the industry's biggest advancement since silicon-based transistors in the 1960s. The Santa Clara, Calif., company has working versions of the chip and plans to start mass-producing versions for PCs and computer servers in the second half of the year, it said. Intel still plans to use silicon for many chip components. The company said the new chip materials would reduce leakage tenfold and make the transistors 20% faster. Potential uses include cellphones that perform advanced computing tasks but maintain their battery charge. For nearly half a century, the number of components on integrated circuits such as silicon computer processors has roughly doubled every couple of years, while the cost per component has declined at a commensurate rate. The phenomenon was named Moore's Law after Intel co-founder Gordon Moore, who first identified it more than 40 years ago. But in recent years, many semiconductor researchers have worried that silicon-based chips could not sustain Moore's Law for much longer. A computer chip transistor features a gate, the on-off switch that regulates the flow of power, and has a thin silicon dioxide insulator underneath. But the thinner the insulator, the more current leaks. The leaked energy generates heat and causes battery drain. High-k materials can be used as insulators that can be made thicker than silicon yet allow an electrical charge to pass through. In a separate announcement, IBM said it too had found a way to use high-k materials, which can store an electric charge better than silicon, in its transistor gates. The Armonk, N.Y., company developed the technology through a research partnership with Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Sony Corp. and Toshiba Corp. It plans to begin massproducing the chips next year.
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