IBM develops the incredible

Timeline · Post by **Timeline** » Tue Jun 20, 2006 1:23 pm

IBM Transistors Take Quantum Leap
Wired News Report 09:00 AM Jun, 20, 2006
IBM has built a transistor that runs about 100 times faster than those found in current chips, a development that could pave the way for ultra-fast computers and wireless networks, the computing giant said on Monday.
Transistors are the basic building blocks of the processors found in everything from supercomputers to digital music players, and IBM achieved the record speeds by building one from silicon laced with the exotic chemical element germanium.
The transistor enabled a processor speed of 500 gigahertz, which is more than 100 times the speed of the fastest PC chips sold today, and about 250 times faster than the typical mobile telephone chip, said Bernie Meyerson, head of semiconductor research for IBM. That speed was hit only when IBM researchers, working with counterparts from the Georgia Institute of Technology, cooled the transistor to near absolute zero, but Meyerson said the device still ran at 300 gigahertz at room temperature.
Clay Ryder, president of Sageza Group, a technology market research firm, said the breakthrough should lead to faster processors, but ones that will run far below the top speed demonstrated by IBM. Most improvements in chip speeds over the years have come from shrinking transistor sizes, but IBM's approach is to fine-tune the silicon on the atomic level, meaning that transistors can be designed from the ground up with very specific applications in mind.
Meyerson forecasts that the advances will show up in real products within a couple years, probably in chips to power super-fast wireless networks capable of transmitting a DVD-quality movie in as little as five seconds.

David Polich · Post by **David Polich** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 10:25 pm

"..pave the way for ultra-fast computers..."

Rememember when a 40Hz Mac IIci was "ultra-fast?"
Or Apple's triumphant announcements of the first Quadra?
How about the "blazing fast 400Mhz G4"?
How about Sweetwaters' adverts from two years ago claiming the then-new G5's could "handle anything you throw at them" ?

Tomorrow's "ultra-Fast" is yesterday's tortoise. It's never-ending...

Timeline · Post by **Timeline** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 1:29 am

maybe so

UprightJoe · Post by **UprightJoe** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 12:55 pm

Most of the tech media covering this development at IBM didn't quite get things right:

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060622-7117.html

Still cool tech but no 500Ghz processors are on the way any time soon....

Timeline · Post by **Timeline** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 1:21 pm

Great post. I read that and the other links. L Helium boiling point is a degree above absolute '0'? Wow, I can't wait until my 11 year old can understand this stuff and explain it to me.

And the fact that it takes .6mm to propagate 500ghz... cool. no wonder we are on to parallel processing!
Thanks

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 1:02 pm

Timeline wrote:Wow, I can't wait until my 11 year old can understand this stuff and explain it to me.

LMFAO!!!!