500GHz Si-based Chip

A research team from IBM and the Georgia Institute of Technology has demonstrated the first silicon-germanium transistor able to operate at frequencies above 500 GHz. This is more than 100 times faster than the fastest PC chips sold today, and about 250 times faster than the typical mobile phone chip. That speed could be achieved when researchers cooled the transistor to minus 451 degrees Fahrenheit. However, the device still ran at 300GHz at room temperature.

Most improvements in chip speeds over the years have come from shrinking the size of transistors. Recently IBM initiated an approach to tweak the silicon at the atomic level. This allows designing transistors from the ground up with very specific applications in mind.

Until now, only integrated circuits fabricated from more costly III-V compound semiconductor materials have achieved such extreme levels of transistor performance. Achieving such extreme speeds in silicon-based technology – which can be manufactured using conventional low-cost techniques – could provide a pathway to high-volume applications.

IBM forecasts that the advances would show up in real products within a couple years, probably in chips to power super-fast wireless networks capable of moving a DVD-quality movie in as little as 5 seconds. Also, ultra-high-frequency silicon-germanium circuits may find potential applications in many communications systems, defense systems, space electronics platforms, and remote sensing systems.