Nuked by the Net in 2009...Darpa, Intel, and Hafnium

Wikipedia accessed September 19, 2007:
en.wikipedia.org...

Hafnium

DARPA has been intermittently funding programs in the US to determine the possibility of using a nuclear isomer of hafnium (the above mentioned Hf-178-m2) to construct small, high yield weapons with simple x-ray triggering mechanisms—an application of induced gamma emission.

news.bbc.co.uk...

BBC NEWS

Wednesday, 19 September 2007

Big future beckons for tiny chips

Critical elements of the transistors, known as gate dielectrics, do not perform as well allowing currents passing through the transistors to leak, reducing the effectiveness of the chip.

To overcome this, Intel and others have replaced the gate dielectrics, previously made from silicon dioxide, with the metal hafnium.

The new materials' development and integration into working components was described by Dr Moore as "the biggest change in transistor technology" since the late 1960s.

Hafnium is a so-called high-K metal and has a greater ability to store electrical charge than silicon dioxide.

This class of materials will also be used in the 32 nanometre devices expected in 2009.

back to wikipedia

One gram of pure Hf-178-m2 [an isomer] would contain approximately 1330 megajoules of energy, the equivalent of exploding about 317 kilograms (700 pounds) of TNT. Possible applications requiring such highly concentrated energy storage are of interest.

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Hafnium is used to make control rods for nuclear reactors because of its ability to absorb neutrons

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Other uses:

* As the electrode in plasma cutting because of its ability to shed electrons into air,

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Hafnium is estimated to make up about 0.00058% of the Earth's upper crust by weight.

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Care needs to be taken when machining hafnium because, like its sister metal zirconium, when hafnium is divided into fine particles, it is pyrophoric and can ignite spontaneously in air (see Dragon's Breath for a demonstration). Compounds that contain this metal are rarely encountered by most people. The pure metal is not considered toxic, but halfnium compounds should be handled as if they are toxic because the ionic forms of metals are normally at greatest risk for toxicity, and limited animal testing has been done for halfnium compounds.

Ok...

So besides RFID in my license in 2009... there is going to be some hafnium that might spontaneously combust, or at least irradiate me in full nuclear glory, in my computer chip?

And darpa might have something to do with it?



Sri Oracle