Looking for something I read - ORDER BY performance using a TYPE instead

There's a way to eliminate the SORT step in the execution plan when using an ORDER BY - but it requires setting up a TYPE to load the contents into (If I'm remembering correctly - I may not be wording it correctly).

My google-fu is failing me terribly and my history is no help (more due to sheer volume than anything else).

Basically the scenario is something like:

select a.col1,a.col2, b.col1,b.col2
from a, b
where a.1=b.1
order by x,y,z
/

Becomes:

create type something_mumble_something ( col1 number,
col2 varchar,
col3 varchar,
col4 int );

with t1 (something_mumble_something(a,b,c) select t1.col1, t1,col2, t1,col3, b.col1,b.col2 from t1, b
where t1.col1 = b.col1
order by t1.col1
/