Intel Tri-Gate Test Wafer
date: label: date made
content: 2006
name: label: maker
content: Intel Corporation
notes: label: Description
content: This is an uncut silicon wafer containing Intel’s tri-gate transistor technology, the 22 nanometer microprocessor architecture used in Intel’s Ivy Bridge and Haswell CPU’s. The test structures on this wafer were designed by Uday Shah and Ravi Pillarisetty and provided a proof-of-concept to Intel that 3D tri-gate transistor technology was commercially viable. While the architecture was originally announced in 2002, Intel’s Ivy Bridge CPU’s didn’t hit the market until late 2011, a testimony to the highly intricate nature of microprocessor production.
label: Description
content: The highly pure silicon wafer provides the substrate for transistors on the integrated circuits that make up microprocessors. The wiring circuity is imprinted on the silicon via a microscopic photolithography process. Intel’s tri-gate technology refers to the process of stacking a single logic gate on top of two vertical gates, creating conducting channels on three sides of a vertical fin structure, a three dimensional transistor that results in lower energy consumption and increased speed.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view (plastic case)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Production and Manufacturing
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content: Computers & Business Machines
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content: Industry & Manufacturing
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content: American Enterprise
label: Exhibition
content: American Enterprise (wafer)
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Intel Corporation
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2014.0098.01
label: catalog number
content: 2014.0098.01
label: accession number
content: 2014.0098
objectType: label: Object Name
content: wafer
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: plastic (case material)
label: Physical Description
content: silicon (overallwafer material)
label: Measurements
content: case: 1 in x 14 1/4 in x 12 3/4 in; 2.54 cm x 36.195 cm x 32.385 cm
label: Measurements
content: wafer: 1/32 in x 11 3/4 in; .07938 cm x 29.845 cm