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AmberWave sues Intel citing latest Pentium chips

Strained-silicon technology developer AmberWave Systems takes on the mighty Intel in the courtroom after the world's biggest chipmaker refuses to negotiate a license agreement to AmberWave's liking.

AmberWave Systems, the Salem, NH, company that specializes in the development of strained-silicon device manufacturing technology, has filed a lawsuit against Intel.

According to AmberWave, Intel's latest Pentium processors, which are manufactured using 90 nm technology, infringe US patent numbers 6,881,632 and 6,831,292.

Both these patents detail ways to increase carrier mobility in n-type and p-type channels by introducing strain into the silicon lattice.

The litigation arose after Intel refused to negotiate a "commercially reasonable" license agreement, claims AmberWave.

"Because Intel has been using these proprietary technologies without a license from AmberWave, we have no choice but to defend our intellectual property rights," said AmberWave CEO Richard Faubert.

Patent 6,881,632, which was granted in April this year, details a method developed by Eugene Fitzgerald, a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Nicole Gerrish.

In it, they describe how a compositionally-graded buffer layer can be used to accommodate the lattice mismatch between a relaxed SiGe film and a silicon substrate. A silicon layer under biaxial tension can then be deposited on top of the SiGe film, thus improving both hole and electron mobility.

Devices made using the method can operate faster while the input power is kept constant, for example in processor chips for desktop computers where speed of operation is the crucial attribute.

Alternatively, the chips can run at their normal frequency but draw less power "“ a useful attribute for portable electronic applications that have a limited power supply.

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