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Junctionless Transistor Could Simplify Chip Making

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the conjunction-junction-i-got-yer-function dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A novel transistor architecture has been developed by a team of researchers led by Jean-Pierre Colinge at Tyndall National Institute at Cork, Ireland. Not many technology developments can be truly described as 'a breakthrough' or "revolutionary' but this might just fit the bill. It does depend on the extremely small dimensions of silicon nanowires just a few dozens of atoms wide. EE Times picked up on an announcement of a paper on the topic being published by Nature Nanotechnology."

10 of 100 comments (clear)

  1. Finally... by TheGeniusIsOut · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Something to get excited about in the field of basic electronic components. Virtually ideal transistors that are easy to fabricate will revolutionize the nanoprocessor industry. I can see cell phones with the computing power of todays desktops in the next 5-10 years from this.

    --
    Ignorance is Bliss -- And the Opposite is True -- Genius is Madness
    1. Re:Finally... by nomadic · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I can see cell phones with the computing power of todays desktops in the next 5-10 years from this.

      I can see cell phones with the computing power of todays desktops in the next 5-10 years WITHOUT this.

    2. Re:Finally... by jibster · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Virtually ideal transistors that are easy to fabricate will revolutionize the nanoprocessor industry.

      I didn't see anything that suggested fabrication would be easy. In fact the article mentions that e-beam lithography was used. If e-beam lithography is a neccessary component then you won't see this in the mainstream anytime soon. The process is slow. So slow it is never used for industrial applications. That said, it is used in acidemia all the time because nothing allows you to get build smaller structures.

    3. Re:Finally... by Nov+Voc · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I believe the point is that this revolution is how that will be achieved, rather than through raw optimization. The closer we get to ideal parts, the more likely it is that my cell phone battery can actually handle playing something heavier than Snake for a few days, rather than a couple of hours tops. I'm looking forward to see how quickly this technology progresses, and not just because I am wishing my netbook could be playing TF2 now, instead of just posting on Slashdot while ignoring this circuit analysis presentation.

    4. Re:Finally... by metamechanical · · Score: 5, Funny

      That said, it is used in acidemia all the time because nothing allows you to get build smaller structures.

      I've never heard such a caustic opinion of our universities! You must have sulfered much at their hands!

      --
      If I had a nickel for every time I had a nickel, I'd be richcursive!
    5. Re:Finally... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Yes, they mean "please fund my research".

    6. Re:Finally... by vlm · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I can see cell phones with the computing power of todays desktops in the next 5-10 years from this.

      I can see cell phones with the computing power of todays desktops in the next 5-10 years WITHOUT this.

      And I still won't have good coverage by my house, and the monthly bill will still be half a car payment, and all I want is a phone to make and receive calls.

      --
      "Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
    7. Re:Finally... by radtea · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Something to get excited about in the field of basic electronic components.

      It's an interesting bit of basic research. There's probably another decade of almost-as-basic research to be done before we'll know if this will ever get out of the lab.

      There are uncountably many interesting phenomena that never make it out of the lab for every one that does. Doing the basic research is a necessary aspect of technological innovation, but it is by no means sufficient, and the ability to do something on a small-scale with hands-on expertise is no indication that it will be useful or usable in an industrial setting.

      One of the problems with tech news reporting is that the continual stream of stories like this one, full of breathless anticipation, is never followed by an honest review five years later of where the "breakthrough" ended up, which means "breakthroughs" tend to fade quietly from memory without any awareness or acknowledgement that they didn't pan out as expected.

      If we saw more followups on ideas that never got beyond the "interesting phenomenon" stage we'd have a greater appreciation for the tiny fraction of innovations that do live to see the light of day in industrial applications. But that would require tech reporters to do more than lightly edit press releases and call them "news".

      --
      Blasphemy is a human right. Blasphemophobia kills.
  2. Re:Proof Read Much? by Nutria · · Score: 5, Funny

    Proof Read Much?

    Proofread much?

    --
    "I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
  3. Yawn. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Old news. This kind of thing has been thrown around a lot, for several years.

    But some university made a single transistor, and now suddenly the revolution is forthcoming. Last week it was graphene transistors, the week before that, 100GHz transistors on diamond.

    This is the direction that things are probably going to move - different geometries, wrap-around gates to improve gate control - and there's going to be a lot of materials science and new (to CMOS) materials needed. But we're not there yet, we're quite a ways out... and in many ways, this isn't even the limiting factor in microprocessors - it's wire delay, parasitic capacitances. That's why so many groups and corporations are focusing on silicon and polysilicon waveguides - using light as an interconnect, nearly lossless, instant, no parasitic coupling (ideally).

    I don't want to downplay what they did *too* much... but universities piss me off when they just become a PR machine. It's just plain irresponsible; it's a pissing match, and if just half of the things they claimed were true, that how things are right now would seem like the dark ages.