IBM develops faster chip
By Our Corporate Bureau | 20 Jun 2006
International Business Machines (IBM) on Monday unveiled a transistor that is 100 times faster than current computer chips. This would help develop faster computers and wireless networks, IBM said. IBM has used silicon laced with germanium to build the new transistor. IBM said the transistor achieved a speed of 500 gigahertz - more than 100 times the speed of the fastest of the current PC chips and about 250 times faster than the average mobile phone chip.
IBM researchers said the speed was achieved at near zero temperatures while working with counterparts from the Georgia Institute of Technology. But, they said the device run at 300 gigahertz at room temperature as well.
IBM said the chip would aid advances in super-fast wireless networks capable of transmitting DVD-quality movies in seconds.
Most of the recent advances in chip technology have been in miniaturisation and increasing speeds. IBM said it worked from the atomic level upwards, designing chips with very specific applications in mind.
Transistors are the basic processing blocks used in everything from supercomputers to digital music players.
