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Reading tips - page 6

Intel & IBM / New materials for building transistors
In February, Intel and IBM announced that they will use dramatically different materials to build smaller, faster transistors for their next generation of chips. (Source : THIOX NEWS) They claim to have created the first 45 nm processor. The enabling new feature of this denser, faster and less power demanding chip is the introduction of an Hf-oxide as gate insulator in MOSFETs, which will replace the famous SiO2.	[ click here to enlarge ] The key advantage is the higher dielectric constant (κ ~ 20 for HfO2 as compared to 3.9 for Si), which allows	thicker dielectric layers to be used, thus reducing the leakage tunnelling currents. The claim is that the new devices will be 2 times denser, 20% faster in switching speed and that the leakage current will be reduced by a factor of 5, the whole new technology leading to a net 30% gain in power consumption. Future routes to develop further high k dielectrics include epitaxial oxides. [ to the full Intel press release ]

KTT tool / Discover Google Patents Beta by Matthias Kuhn
Google has launched its own search engine for patents (beta version) in December 2006 : http://www.google.com/patents It is designed to sift through about 7 millions U.S. patents by a variety of parameters including filing date, issue date, patent number and inventor. Google claims to offer a more searchable format than the one provided by the US Patent Office .	Google's engine includes pre-1976 patents, but does not currently include patent applications, international patents, or U.S. patents issued since mid-2006, but Google said that these enhancements are in the works. According to Marcel D. Mongeon ( Intellectual Property Coach in Canada), a nice feature of Google Patent is to allow searching full text such as “T.A. Edison” (or other permutations), which is more difficult with other tools.	Other free patent search engines are : 1) European Patent Office: http://ep.espacenet.com 2) US Patent Office: http://patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/PTO/search-adv.htm (you have to use the USPTO command line search syntax) Patent search engines are really useful to know the state-of-the art about a new technology or invention. Technology Transfer Offices use them all the time - and so do I when receiving invention disclosures from MaNEP members (5 received in 2006).

And also...
First major superconducting wire shipment ! This is a long-awaited breakthrough in the 'applied superconductivity' community. On December 22, 2006 SuperPower Inc. reported shipment of 9.7 km of coated conductor wire bound for Sumitomo	Electric Industries, in Japan. This shipment constitutes the worldwide largest delivery of 2G superconducting wire to date and will be utilized to manufacture a 30-meter cable section for the Albany HTS Cable installation. [ more details in the THEVA Newsletter ]	Latest THIOX News and coming events The February THIOX newsletter is out : [ download it here in PDF ]