IBM has announced the creation of a silicon based transistor that runs at a blazingly fast 350GHz, the worldis fastest to date. The achievement is another in a string of the companyis maturing silicon germanium (SiGe) bipolar technology. According to the IBM press release:
IBMis new transistor performs nearly 300 percent faster than todayis production devices, and is 65 percent faster than previously reported silicon transistors. A fingernail-sized microchip can hold millions of transistors.
While not immediately applicable to current microprocessor products, the technology will eventually pay dividends.
IBM anticipates the new transistor will lead to communications chips with speeds of more than 150 GHz in about two years. The transistor is also expected to result in substantially lower power consumption and lower cost for communications systems and other electronic products.
A paper outlining the new process will be presented at the International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) held in San Francisco, Dec. 9-11, 2002.
More information about the transistors can be found in the IBM press release.