Big Blue demos 100GHz chip

The Register ^ | 5th February 2010 19:30 GMT | Rik Myslewski in San Francisco

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

IBM reseachers have made a breakthrough in the development of ultra-high-speed transistor design, creating a 100GHz graphene-based wafer-scale device. And that's just for starters.

The transistor that the researchers have developed is a relatively large one, with a gate length of 240 nanometers - speeds should increase as the gate length shrinks.

The field-effect transistor that the IBM team developed exploits what a paper published in the journal Science understates as the "very high carrier mobilities" of graphene, a one-atom-thick sheet of carbon atoms grown on a silicon substrate.

This extraordinarily thin sheet is grown on the silicon epitaxially, meaning that it's created in an ordered crystaline structure on top of another crystaline structure - in this case, good ol' garden-variety silicon. The graphene sheet has a hexagonal, honeycombed structure.

A long gate length means plenty of room for speed improvements

Graphene has been known for some time to have exceptional electron mobility, but it has remained stubbornly resistant to the creation of band gaps - the electron-free zones necessary for transistors to funtion as on/off switches. Among the IBM research team's breakthroughs was the creation of these band gaps in a graphene-based transistor.

In an IBM Research statement, Dr. T.C. Chen, vice president for science and technology, said: "A key advantage of graphene lies in the very high speeds in which electrons propagate, which is essential for achieving high-speed, high-performance next generation transistors. The breakthrough we are announcing demonstrates clearly that graphene can be utilized to produce high performance devices and integrated circuits."

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Graphene on Silicone....

[Marine_Uncle]

Interesting article. It could become a totally new technology to exploit.

[neverdem]

thanks, bfl

[NewHampshireDuo]

Uh Oh —— this stuff is carbon. Bad. Al Gore would not approve

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Ernest.

The transistor that the researchers have developed is a relatively large one, with a gate length of 240 nanometers -- speeds should increase as the gate length shrinks.

Y'know, in case 100GHz isn't fast enough...

[NoCmpromiz]

Al Gore would not approve

But BigBlue can afford to buy some Carbon credits...

(Or buy Algore and set him up on his own iceberg complete with polar bear...)

[VRW Conspirator]

The transistor that the researchers have developed is a relatively large one, with a gate length of 240 nanometers - speeds should increase as the gate length shrinks.

Couple that with a flux capacitor and personal fusion drives are right around the corner.

[grey_whiskers]

One atom thick ought to make for some interesting handling and reliability issues :-)

Cheers!

[TexasRepublic]

Couple that with a flux capacitor and personal fusion drives are right around the corner.

And flying cars. At last.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Sounds good.

[mamelukesabre]

Wait til they start making them one atom wide

[ShadowAce]

[TChris]

Moore’s law marches on...