Transistor Overclocking

[blobrana]

IBM Corp. and Georgia Tech announced Tuesday they have built a transistor that runs about 100 times faster than current chips, a development that could lead to advances in cell phones, radar technology and space exploration.
Although the new chip is far from commercial availability, the latest development is an important step in showing the electronics industry the speeds that silicon-based chips could reach, researchers say.
After cooling down a silicon-germanium chip to approximately minus 268 degrees Celsius, researchers from IBM and Georgia Tech were able to clock the transistor at 500 gigahertz, versus a speed of about 350 gigahertz at room temperature.
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[Cyberus]

Hi babe,
Sorry to be a spoilsport, but I posted a similar item as news yesterday morning :-)

[blobrana]

Cool

[Dandy]

blobrana wrote:
IBM Corp. and Georgia Tech announced Tuesday they have built a transistor
...
After cooling down a silicon-germanium chip ...

You see me confused now:
What is it - a "Chip" or an "Transistor"?

As far as I know there are up to several millions of transistors nested on one chip...

So what did they actually build now?

[blobrana]

Hum,
technically i suppose they could just have had one transistor on a chip;
The transistor is just a `gate`.  It can be open or closed.
IBM just made that action faster....
The chip is just the `housing` and `pattern` of the transistors.

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/diode4.htm

[Dandy]

blobrana wrote:
Hum,
technically i suppose they could just have had one transistor on a chip;

In theory - yes.
Practically I never heard of an One-Transistor-Chip.
Even if there are two transistors in one case, they are not called "chips" but e.g. "Darlingtons" or the like.

I don't know how much transistors have to be packed together to call it a "chip" - do you know the number?

blobrana wrote:
The transistor is just a `gate`.  It can be open or closed.
IBM just made that action faster....

I like to compare it with a water tap.
At "one end" there is "power" (=water pressure), and if I open the tab at the "second end", the water can pass through and come out at the "third end"...

blobrana wrote:
The chip is just the `housing` and `pattern` of the transistors.

I seem to remember to have seen some transistors for VHF/UHF purposes with a transition frequency within the gigahertz range - I will have to look in my old transistors comparison table...
(so I would say such high frequencies for *Transistors* are not that new)

[X-ray]

@ Cyberus

"...Hi Babe..."
----------------------------------------------------------









 :-P

[blobrana]

Hum,
it crossed my mind too...



 :-)

[X-ray]

"...Hum,
it crossed my mind too..."
----------------------------------------------------------

What, the 'Blob Wire' ??


 :-P

[blobrana]

Hum,
no the Barbie quote;
but, i like the `Blob Wire` bit - i may borrow the idea for my website...

[Doobrey]

Dandy wrote:
I don't know how much transistors have to be packed together to call it a "chip" - do you know the number?

I always thought that 'chip' just referred to the fact that something was made on a small piece of silicon cut from a larger wafer, just like chips/crisps are cut from potatoes.

[Oliver]

Dandy wrote:
I seem to remember to have seen some transistors for VHF/UHF purposes with a transition frequency within the gigahertz range - I will have to look in my old transistors comparison table...
(so I would say such high frequencies for *Transistors* are not that new)

The point here is that it's a Si based transistor.  Si chips are cheaper and easier to produce than some of the more exotic semiconductor materials.  It is not the best suited for all applications though.  The majority of chips have been made with Si, often Si CMOS, and it is a mature technology.  If the technology can be adapted to other applications, it is somewhat advantageous.  So, high frequency Si = good.

[odin]

@x-ray:

You compare Pamela 'plastic' Anderson to blobrana? :-o. I would've thought you held blob in higher regard ;-).

[Speelgoedmannetje]

odin wrote:
@x-ray:

You compare Pamela 'plastic' Anderson to blobrana? :-o.

That's actually a living person :-? I thought it was a sex doll on that pic...

[odin]

What I said, plastic.
-edit-
Erm, totally offtopic again :oops:.