Graphene transistor hits 300GHz
Graphene - a clean, safe future alternative to silicon in CPUs - has been used to make a transistor which runs at a whopping 300GHz.
Graphene, a form of carbon in the shape of a honeycomb lattice, first came to our attention as a future replacement for silicon in processors back in 2007 following research by Princeton University and then promptly disappeared, as do so many other "killer" technologies that are trumpeted by universities.
Scientists aren't willing to let go of graphene that easily though: according to an article on IEEE Spectrum, a team at the University of California at Los Angeles has created a nanowire-based graphene transistor that operates at speeds silicon-based equivalents just can't touch: 300GHz.
Such performance is around twice as fast as that achievable from equivalent silicon-based transistors, and similar to what can be achieved with those made from expensive and dangerous materials such as gallium arsenide. Better still, the technology shouldn't cost more to produce than existing silicon-based transistors .
With the technology believed to scale into terahertz, graphene could be the new silicon - but a single transistor does not a CPU make. It's clear that teams working on graphene technology have a long way to go before we start enjoying the benefits in our PCs.
Are you pleased to see that graphene research hasn't hit a dead end yet, or will you only get excited when Intel, AMD, or ARM announce their first 1THz graphene-based chips? Share your thoughts over in the forums.
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which means approximately 10x - 20x faster than current CPU offerings
30GHz-60GHz (stock)
doesnt sound too shabby
it is how efficent they are is what really counts
for example a core i3 is more efficent and faster than the same speed core 2 duo
thsi is the kind of thin i want not just more speed
If you replace every transister in mobo/cpu/ram etc, will they all operate faster, if they operate at all?
"BY THE EMPEROR IT SHALL BE SO!" I hereby demand that these things are used excessivly in future technology... of course said demands will fail, however... I can deal with a 60GHz CPU....
What about the heat generated by one graphene transistor? Just because one can operate at 300GHz, it doesn't mean that a whole load put together will work at this frequency.
*goes off to look at the thermal properties of graphene versus silicon*
I'm thinking about adding another 2 GTX 470 so I can have 3-way SLI. I would then be really happy if I can run everything on max at 23 - 36 FPS. I would be a happy man
As we're moving towards stacking dies and 3D designs, though, it seems likely that we'll need a better way to conduct the produced heat away from the die, and that silicon isn't going to work there. Miniature watercooling has been proposed, but seems quite complex to get right :)
Whether graphene is the answer here I'm not sure, but it's most definitely an interesting material.
Well yeah, diamond is an even more perfect molecular carbon matrix than graphene, so that makes sense :)
On a sidenote, I still find it funny to see people express disbelief at the fact that diamonds can easily be burned :D
When did Yoda start writing for Bit-Tech???
SWEET!
Noble Prize for Chemistry awarded to Bolton's first Nobel Prize winner (I'll be its second, obviously) Harold Kroto!
Buckyball <3
Note that this graphene, according to the article, can achieve speeds twice as fast as normal silicon.
That means someone out there has been running silicon at 150GHz, or could if they wanted to (for single transistors, presumably) - Right, so why haven't we got CPUs at 150GHz yet? Because it ain't that simple.
That means in turn that just because a single Graphene transistor can run at 300GHz doesn't mean CPUs made from it will too.
Sure, it's great to see technological improvements and I'm not slagging off the article or the news itself at all here, but my excitement usually fades when I read these articles closely and see that it's yet another thing that won't leave the lab for another decade.
Simply put now silicone transistors are relatively well understood and the scientific and engineering hurdles to increase speed more palpable. Trying to go from nothing to a full graphene product would take decades of research and 100's of millions in research and development for something that might not even wash out.
http://www.nanotech-now.com/nanotube-buckyball-sites.htm
Pretty interesting.
According to the article, current Silicon based transistors can switch at roughly 150GHz.. Obviously these frequencies aren't used in ICs because it would get ridiculously hot... so I'm guessing that these Graphene based chips would not run at 300GHz... but could still probably run a lot faster than Silicon ICs, I'd imagine.