Just hope AMD aligns themselves with IBM not Motorola,it appears to be happening.
IBM has a proven copper process ,the SOI (silicon on insulator)is an IBM gem and Ibm has been
working on the technicalities of .13 micron process longer than Intel.
AMDs palamino and Hammer chips have been delayed so that they could be redesigned to accept
soi from the beginning of production ,soi will help chips run cooler.
The trick in the copper process according to those companies who have a copper process ,motorola and IBM, is the polishing of each layer .IBMs process is patented and took years to develop ,I cannot imagine Intel developed a similar process in a few months.
It was not so long ago Intel was saying that neither the copper process or .13 micron chips
would be required for a long time ,if ever. They were counting on other materials.