news.com.com— IBM and Georgia Tech have coaxed a chip to run at 500GHz, a record for a silicon-based device, by dropping the temperature to minus 451 degrees Fahrenheit.
Jun 20, 2006View in Crawl 4
No, he got modded down because he's wrong. In laboratory conditions, scientists have been able to get within less than 1% of absolute zero, which is around -458.77F. Absolute zero is -459.67F.-451F (~8F above abs 0) is absolutely possible.
The link to the actual IBM press release which has slightly more details is found here:<a class="user" href="http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/19843.wss">http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/19843.wss</a>The title of this post is misleading. The reported speed is not that of a microprocessor but that of a single transistor, specifically a single SiGe BJT transistor. When they talk about the maximum operating frequency of the device they are referring to the peak fT, or the maximum oscillation frequency. This measurement is made on a single transistor using "small-signals" from an RF (radio frequency) network analyzer. This is not the same frequency you will get if you were to use this transistor inside a computer chip. To give you an idea, current 90-nm CMOS transistors used in modern microprocessors have a peak fT of ~150 GHz, but we only see processors with clock frequencies less than 4 GHz.It is well known that BJT transistors are much faster than MOSFET transistors used in today's microprocessors. We are unlikely to see this technology used in typical microprocessors as BJTs consume too much static power. This transistor will likely be applied to the RF front end of telecommunication devices.
This is inaccurate. They have a few transistors working at these speeds, not a full blown processor. Processor clock speeds are usually limited by the critical path rather than the switching speeds of transistors anyway.
Quite simply, all cryogenically frozen celebrities need computers with cryogenically frozen CPUs. I assume.That's the key. The article said the chip was cryogenically frozen.
egoistJun 20, 2006
No, he got modded down because he's wrong. In laboratory conditions, scientists have been able to get within less than 1% of absolute zero, which is around -458.77F. Absolute zero is -459.67F.-451F (~8F above abs 0) is absolutely possible.
metadffJun 20, 2006
The link to the actual IBM press release which has slightly more details is found here:<a class="user" href="http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/19843.wss">http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/19843.wss</a>The title of this post is misleading. The reported speed is not that of a microprocessor but that of a single transistor, specifically a single SiGe BJT transistor. When they talk about the maximum operating frequency of the device they are referring to the peak fT, or the maximum oscillation frequency. This measurement is made on a single transistor using "small-signals" from an RF (radio frequency) network analyzer. This is not the same frequency you will get if you were to use this transistor inside a computer chip. To give you an idea, current 90-nm CMOS transistors used in modern microprocessors have a peak fT of ~150 GHz, but we only see processors with clock frequencies less than 4 GHz.It is well known that BJT transistors are much faster than MOSFET transistors used in today's microprocessors. We are unlikely to see this technology used in typical microprocessors as BJTs consume too much static power. This transistor will likely be applied to the RF front end of telecommunication devices.
haeliosJun 20, 2006
This is inaccurate. They have a few transistors working at these speeds, not a full blown processor. Processor clock speeds are usually limited by the critical path rather than the switching speeds of transistors anyway.
Closed AccountJun 20, 2006
...so when can I buy it?
ashyraccoonJun 21, 2006
Quite simply, all cryogenically frozen celebrities need computers with cryogenically frozen CPUs. I assume.That's the key. The article said the chip was cryogenically frozen.
ashyraccoonJun 21, 2006
(redundant reply, bury)
dlan4327Jan 25, 2009
So maybe it can play this Crysis game I've been hearing about.