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Technology Stocks : Intel Corporation (INTC) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tobias Ekman who wrote (142689)	9/4/2001 10:11:45 AM
From: AJ Berger	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 186894

Gallium Arsenide is an old Panacea It was first fully developed and licensed by IBM over a decade ago, and back then everyone thought Fabricators would use it to replace silicon. Silicon will continue to dominate as long as it's cheap and high yeilding. Gallium Arsenide was only used in very few highly specialized chips. All MOT is doing is making a hybrid mixed medium chip to bring their costs down on chips they probably don't compete with INTC on anyway. I don't see any of this impacting Intel until the laws of physics starts breaking down the possibilities of making smaller and smaller etching (lithography) sizes. That will force them to consider other mediums, and by then, so many others will have matured, that Gallium Arsenide still won't catch on. Don't Worry, Be Happy...

To: Tobias Ekman who wrote (142689)	9/4/2001 12:49:21 PM
From: Saturn V	Respond to of 186894

Ref < Gallium Arsenide > Gallium Arsenide has been the the technology of the future for 35 years. At the discrete transistor level, gallium arsenide has always been faster. But the packing density and the yields are dramatically lower. Thus a silicon based system has much fewer chips, and this makes up for the slower speed of silicon transistors. So Gallium Arsenide is relegated to "niche products" for RF amplifiers and opto electronic devices like lasers. Silicon devices cannot emit light and power opto electronic transmitters. For communication systems this has meant a minimum two chip solution, one for silicon functions and one for gallium arsenide functions. The Motorola technology will allow the two functions to come together on chip. This will reduce the size, improve the performance and eventually lower the cost of communication devices. If the technology pans out, it will have a major impact on communications. However I am a skeptic about bright new ideas. Too many bright new technologies do not make it in the world of high volume manufacturing. However since communication devices are becoming increasingly important, this technology merits a careful study by semiconductor manufacturers.