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MIT researchers concoct smallest indium gallium arsenide transistor ever made
Researchers at MIT's Microsystems Technology Laboratories may be giving Moore's Law a new lease on life with the development of the smallest indium gallium arsenide transistor ever made, measuring up at 22-nanometers. Such transistors could produce more current when shrunken down than those based on silicon, which means chips may continue to pack in more transistors while providing a bigger punch. "We have shown that you can make extremely small indium gallium arsenide MOSFETs (metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors) with excellent logic characteristics, which promises to take Moore's Law beyond the reach of silicon," says co-developer of the tech Jesús del Alamo. The development is an encouraging step in the right direction, but the MIT team still has a long road ahead of it before the tech shows up in your gadgets. Next on the docket for the scientists is improving the transistor's electrical performance and downsizing it to below 10-nanometers. For the nitty gritty on how the transistor was built, hit the adjacent source link.
New quantum tunneling transistors to make PCs less power-hungry
Yes, that awesome new 8-core chip in your PC is the fastest thing on the block, but it's got your utility meter spinning accordingly. Fortunately, researchers from Penn State have come up with a new high performance transistor that may turn future chips from power hogs into current-sipping silicon. The group, in cooperation with semiconductor manufacturer IQE, has created a high-performance transistor capable of significantly reducing power demand whether it's idle or switching. Doctoral candidate Dheeraj Mohata's the one who made it happen by inventing an alternative to traditional MOSFET (metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors) technology capable of turning on and off using far less power. Mohata's method uses a tunneling field effect transistor crafted from dissimilar semiconductor materials to provide instant on-off capability at 300 millivolts -- compared to MOSFET's one volt requirement -- to provide a power savings of 70 percent. You can dig deeper into the technical transistor details at the source, but all you really need to know is that the ladies love a PC with paltry power consumption.
Scientists build double-floating-gate FET, believe it could revolutionize computer memory
Look, we get it, you want DRAM that behaves like flash, flash that behaves like DRAM, and everything in between -- speedy computer memory that doesn't lose its data when the power goes off, and lasts for years on end. Well, it looks there's a new challenger about to enter that ring -- double floating-gate field effect transistors, currently in prototype form at North Carolina State University. Whereas the single floating-gate variety is currently responsible for the flash memory in your USB keys and SSDs, the second floating gate lets bits of data stay in an active, ready state, but the computer can also apply a higher voltage to "freeze" them in place. Since the memory can switch between static and dynamic modes in a single cycle and the data never disappears in between, researchers imagine the new tech could lead to instant-on computers and power-saving techniques that shut down idle memory banks. That's the consumer take, at least -- find the technical deep dive at our more coverage link.
