A Process Comparison of the Intel 45nm "Penryn" and the 32nm "Clarkdale/Westmere" CPU

The report is a comparative analysis of the Intel 45nm “Penryn Processor”with respect to Intel 32nm “Clarkdale/Westmere” CPU processor structure and fabrication process. The Intel 45nm Penryn is a coreTM 2 Duo extreme processor manufactured with the most advanced semiconductor technologypackaged in lead-free package. It is the first to incorporate high-k metal gate (HKMG) technology, third generation strained silicon, embedded SiGe (eSiGe) technology which reportedly gave a 20% improvement in transistor switching speed. The Intel 32nm “Clarkdale/Westmere” CPU will feature dual-cores, Hyper Threading technology and a GPU included in the package for faster graphics processing. It also features process technology advancements in: high-k metal gate (HKMG), new materials for NMOS (source/drain regions), new low-k dielectrics, tighter metal pitches using Immersion lithography 193nm combined with double patterning.