What is Hafnium?
Hafnium is the 72nd element in the periodic table, chemically extremely similar to zirconium. Out of all the elements, hafnium and zirconium are among the most difficult to tell apart, although the density of hafnium is about twice that of zirconium. Hafnium is a rare, silvery, ductile, corrosion-resistant metal, which makes up only 0.00058% of the Earth’s upper crust by weight. Hafnium is well-known among chemists and physicists for several reasons. One is because of its neutron-absorbing properties. Hafnium is used to make the control rods for nuclear reactors. When a hafnium control rod is pushed into a reactor, it absorbs stray neutrons released by uranium or plutonium-fueled nuclear reactions, cooling the reactor down. This is essential to keep the reactor under control and prevent meltdown. Because even tiny impurities of zirconium can radically lower hafnium’s nuclear-absorbing capacity, a difficult separation process is necessary to produce hafnium of the purity required to ser
Hafnium (Hf) is a chemical element on the periodic table. Its silver-gray in color, highly ductile, corrosion resistant, and is chemically most similar to zirconium. Intel engineers discovered that introducing hafnium into silicon chips helps reduce electrical leakage enabling smaller, more energy-efficient and performance-packed processors. Using dramatically new materials including hafnium-based circuitry, new Intel® 45nm high-k metal gate silicon technology helps to dramatically increases processor energy efficiency and equating to more powerful computing experiences and greater flexibility of design. With more than 400 million transistors for dual-core processors and more than 800 million for quad-core, the 45nm Penryn family introduces new micro architecture features for greater performance at a given frequency, plus expanded power management capabilities for new levels of energy efficiency. The 45nm Hi-k next-generation Intel Core 2 and Intel® Xeon® processors have about 30 perce
Hafnium (Hf) is a chemical element on the periodic table. Its silver-gray in color, highly ductile, corrosion resistant, and is chemically most similar to zirconium. Intel engineers discovered that introducing hafnium into silicon chips helps reduce electrical leakage enabling smaller, more energy-efficient and performance-packed processors. circuitry, new Intel® 45nm high-k metal gate silicon technology helps to dramatically increases processor energy efficiency and equating to more powerful computing experiences and greater flexibility of design. With this breakthrough transistor technology, Intel is manufacturing serious advantage into every hafnium-based Intel® 45nm high-k chip. These revolutionary new notebook and desktop processors enable greater performance in gaming, multimedia, and multitasking—at work, at home, or on the go.
