IBM triples transistor performance with Germanium

IBM has successfully demonstrated a new technique for improving transistor performance that will help the company build smaller, more powerful chips in the next decade, company researchers said Monday.

The Armonk, New York, company has discovered a way to use the element germanium to improve the flow of electrons through its transistors, says Huiling Shang, a research staff member at IBM. A layer of strained germanium is applied directly to the channel of the transistor, or the area through which electrical current passes, in order to open up additional space for electrons within the channel.

Read the complete story here. (PC World)