I.B.M. Announces Screaming Fast Switch

International Business Machines announced Monday that it has built the world's fastest transistor, or electronic switch. The switch reportedly can run at speeds of 350 billion cycles per second and will likely be targeted at communications applications such as cell phones and optical switches. The I.B.M. transistor is comprised of silicon, a standard in semiconductors, and germanium, a material similar to silicon. Combining these two materials in layers significantly increases the switching capacity of transistors. IBM claims that within two years it will be able to produce for commercial application a low cost and power efficient communications chip that runs at 150 Gigahertz, or 150 billions of cycles per second. Current top communication chip speeds are about 50 Gigahertz, according to IBM. "For example, 10 Gigabit Ethernet going to 40 Gigabit - that adoption is slow," said Bijan Davari, a Fellow and Vice President of Technology and Emerging Products in IBM's Microelectronics Group. "When you want to go from 40 to 80 to 150, you can use this technology. We will be ready in a couple of years. The question is, is the industry there?"

I.B.M. reportedly will present technology details at the International Electron Devices Meeting to be held in San Francisco, California from December 9-11, 2002.