IBM, AMD claim a better way to strain silicon

“IBM and Advanced Micro Devices have devised a new way of straining silicon–a design technique that improves chip performance–they claim will be cheaper, faster and easier to implement.

Called “Dual Stress Liners,” or DSL, the technique will ideally eliminate much of the complexity involved with strained silicon. Chips containing DSL are quietly already being sold, but both companies will start to use it in chips built on their 90-nanometer production processes in the first quarter, which will lead to greater proliferation.”