New IBM Silicon-based Chip Breaks Speed Record at 500 GHz

Researchers at I.B.M. and the Georgia Institute of Technology will announce today that they have broken the speed record for silicon-based chips with a semiconductor that operates 250 times faster than chips commonly used today.

The researchers, using a cryogenic test station, achieved the speed milestone by “freezing” the chip to 451 degrees below zero Fahrenheit, using liquid helium.

At 500 gigahertz, the technology is 250 times faster than chips in today’s cellphones, which operate at 2 gigahertz. At room temperature, the chips operate at 350 gigahertz, far faster than other chips in commercial use today.

Good news for old Murphy and his law.

The research group included students from Georgia Tech and Korea University in South Korea, and researchers from I.B.M. Microelectronics. The results will be reported in the July issue of the technical journal IEEE Electron Device Letters.
via NYT