MIT researchers may have found a replacement for silicon processors with new transistor | business analyst | Scoop.it
From web.mit.edu - December 11, 2012 10:27 AM
Researchers from MIT's Microsystems Technology Laboratories claim to have created the smallest transistor ever to be made out of a material other than silicon. The transistor is made of indium gallium arsenide, a material already used in fiber-optic and radar technologies, and is just 22 nanometers thick — the size of about nine strands of human DNA. Because this is the same type of transistor typically used in microprocessors, it could mean more densely packed — and consequently higher performance — chips. Researchers hope to have found an alternative to silicon, the speed and effectiveness of which dwindles on extremely small scales, threatening the forward progress predicted by Moore's Law. Co-developer and MIT professor Jesús del Alamo claims that this development "promises to take Moore's Law beyond the reach of silicon."
Via trendspotter