2009 R&D 100 Winner
An increasingly mobile population and growing reliance on the Internet have created a demand for more compact, mobile, lightweight devices. The Intel Atom Processor, designed to facilitate network communications on small devices, has enabled an array of new mobile devices such as netbooks and mobile Internet devices. Intel Corp.’s (Santa Clara, Cailf.) Intel Atom Processor, featuring Intel's smallest processor and built with the world's smallest transistors, gives device makers and software vendors the ability to innovate around a low-power design that enables users to take the Internet wherever they go. The processor is based on a new micro-architecture which has a thermal design power (TDP) specification in the 0.65- to 2.5-W range and scales to 1.86 GHz speeds depending on customer need. It is designed for small devices and low power, while maintaining the full x86 (Intel Core 2 Duo instruction set) compatibility consumers are accustomed to when using a standard PC and the Internet. These chips are manufactured on Intel’s 45-nm process with Hi-k metal gate technology.
Technology
Processor
Developer
Intel Corp.
