Intel's IGBTs - Are They or Are They Not?

[rollerbladegirl]

I would guess that Intel is using Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBT's) in their new super multi core cpu's. I have read suggestions that something is different. Maybe it is just as simple as in the core connections via new in-cpu chip BUS additions. Maybe something else.

It has been common for transistors to have three lines to them. Two with an on-off switch between them. And one that supplies potential which is used as a "gate switch" which turns on or off the switch. Years ago the gate was insulated and thus the "Insulate Gate" of the Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor. This is a years old design that has been commonly available on ebay up to 1,000,000 watt capacity (1,000 volt capacity and 1,000 amp capacity) in single phase.

My question relates to the IGBT's that Intel is probably using in their cpu's. Do these new chips use the many years old IGBT basic design or a new design? I am not asking if they are smaller or have thinner lines. I am not asking if they are cooler. I am not asking if they are made via multi-die.

Do these new chips use the many years old IGBT basic design or a new design?

Thanks.

[dev7060]

Do these new chips use the many years old IGBT basic design or a new design?

I guess the extent to which a company wants to reveal about the internals of the products depends on the company itself. And some things are not meant to be revealed. This may be one of them. If this isn't the case, it should be covered by media outlets.

[rollerbladegirl]

Thank you dev7060 .

It would seem, to many people, that product designs are almost by default secret to a company, but in this case, it might not be so. Years ago, when someone was studying EE, it was common to have a course in semiconductor circuit design. The study included (if my memory of terminology is correct) pnp, npn, gates, etc. When someone studied ME there was a class (or more) in strength of materials, maybe a class (or multiple classes) in materials development, and other similar classes. Years later these concepts and the research of such were reported to be breakthroughs in manufacturing. They were years old technologies before they rolled off commercial assembly lines.

If a recent Electrical Engineer graduate or even (as odd as it may seem to others) a recent Mechanical Engineer graduate diligently learned their chosen field of endeavor, then they might have a solid answer to my posted question.

The switching internal to most current Central Processing Units is based upon two separate and unique engineering concepts: (1) capacity of the electrical gate switch; and (2) the capacity of the surrounding and supporting materials to physically sustain the stress and strain resulting from the switching. To physically create the switch can be (but is not always) based upon either chemical etching or laser etching. Chemical etching suggests the inclusion in some cases of a Chemist or maybe a graduate level Chemical Engineer. Laser etching suggests maybe one or more of the following: Chemist, Physicist, and Crystallographe r. The supporting technologies have been studied, studied more, and studied almost to exhaustion. What rolls off of the assembly line at Intel and other chip manufacturers is based upon such old technology that maybe your grandparents studied it.

Thus the logic of my question "Do these new chips use the many years old IGBT basic design or a new design?" Transistors are nothing new. Without leading the average reader into answering my question in a specific technological direction: There are manufacturing process designs that have been around for more than 20 years, and I want to know if they have reached commercial use yet. Intel seems to have made big claims to (maybe) a leap in [something]. I want to know what it is.

Here I am, in the midst of computer programmers, those aggressively self-driven among us specifically which are of mentalities at the leading edge of near-to-impossible logic development striving to push their own personal mental limits. I have dared to ask such questions in this realm. Some of the readers might have degrees which covered or touched upon an answer to my question. Some of those might know from the outside, looking in, what Intel is actually releasing in their CPU's. It is nothing new. It is well known to be old technology. Intel and others like them are maybe as much as 20 or 30 years behind what has been taught in American universities. Research can be fast, but often manufacturing has commonly been almost glacial. I anticipate answers.

[rollerbladegirl]

Answered a post which has been removed. Therefore I have removed this answer.