Thursday , March 28 2024

IBM Introduces Really, Really, Really Small Transistor

Reuters reports:

    Reducing the size of the on-off switch in the transistor, known in the industry as gate length, boosts chip performance and speed, and lowers manufacturing cost and power consumption, IBM said.

    The proof-of-concept transistor measures six nanometers — about 20,000 times smaller than the width of a single human hair, according to IBM.

    That’s at least 10 times smaller than transistors in use today, which range between 60 to 90 nanometers, said Meikei Ieong, a researcher on the IBM project. A nanometer is one billionth of a meter.

    “Each generation of such scaled devices has historically reduced the cost of doing some function by about 25 percent per year,” said Juri Matisoo, vice president of technology for the Semiconductor Industry Assocation trade group.

    “So what it means, basically, is that things are going to get a lot cheaper and that you’ll be able to do things that aren’t possible today, from a point of view of performance, such as language translation,” Matisoo said.

This will have to do until they get those new-fangled molecular or quantum computers are up and running.

About Eric Olsen

Career media professional and serial entrepreneur Eric Olsen flung himself into the paranormal world in 2012, creating the America's Most Haunted brand and co-authoring the award-winning America's Most Haunted book, published by Berkley/Penguin in Sept, 2014. Olsen is co-host of the nationally syndicated broadcast and Internet radio talk show After Hours AM; his entertaining and informative America's Most Haunted website and social media outlets are must-reads: Twitter@amhaunted, Facebook.com/amhaunted, Pinterest America's Most Haunted. Olsen is also guitarist/singer for popular and wildly eclectic Cleveland cover band The Props.

Check Also

PAX East Videogame Preview: ‘Dune Awakening’ – The Apparent Savior of the Survival MMO Genre

An amazing early look at 'Dune Awakening' showcases innovative survival mechanics, flexible gameplay and a compelling style blending books and movies.