IBM Shoots for 210 GHz Chips

So much for Moore's Law . IBM just announced that it has put together a silicon-based transistor that it thinks will drive communications chips to speeds of 100GHz within two years. The transistor uses a modified design and IBM's silicon germanium (SiGe) technology to reach speeds of 210 GHz while drawing just a milliamp of electrical current, representing an 80 percent performance improvement and a 50 percent reduction in power consumption over current designs. Transistor speeds are determined by how quickly electricity passes through them, which depends on the material the transistor is made of and the distance electricity needs to travel through it. In 1989, IBM adding germanium to standard issue silicon to speed the electrical flow and reduce power consumption. The new transistor combines the use of the SiGe material with an improved transistor design that shortens the electrical path to speed up the device. Read IBM's full description of the new transistor . Another story about it can be found on Share: