Intel lines up 'unleaded' CPUs

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 22 May 2007 11:34

Your IT - Home IT

Future Intel processors will be 100 percent lead-free, the company has announced.

Environmental issues including energy savings and the reduction or elimination of hazardous substances are currently a common theme among tech announcements, but that does not make them any less welcome.

The first lead-free CPUs from Intel will appear in the second half of this year, starting with 45nm 'Hi-k' versions of the Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad and Xeon families.

Hi-k refers to the use of dielectric materials that can be used in thicker layers to prevent leakage, but at the same time maintain high capacitance for good transistor performance. Intel's 45nm technology uses a hafnium-based material as the dielectric in place of the silicon dioxide used in current chips.

Although the company has already reduced the amount of lead in its CPU and chipset packages by 95 percent, getting rid of the 0.02g of lead solder currently used to connect the chip itself to the package substrate with a tin/silver/copper alloy required "a great deal of engineering work," company officials said.

The new manufacturing processes are said to maintain current levels of performance, quality and reliability.

"Intel is taking an aggressive stance toward environmental sustainability, from the elimination of lead and a focus on greater energy efficiency of our products, to fewer air emissions and more water and materials recycling," said Nasser Grayeli, Intel vice president and director of assembly test technology development, technology and manufacturing group.