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Integrated Circuit Amplifier Breaches Terahertz Barrier

Posted by Soulskill on from the terably-impressive dept.

jenningsthecat writes: DARPA's Terahertz Electronics program has created "the fastest solid-state amplifier integrated circuit ever measured." The Terahertz Monolithic Integrated Circuit (TMIC), boasts a gain of 9dB — previously unheard of for a monolithic device in this frequency range. Plus, the status of "fastest" has been certified by Guinness — seriously! ('Cause you might not trust DARPA, but you gotta trust Guinness — right?).

In related news, DARPA has also created a micro-machined vacuum power amplifier operating at 850 GHz, or 0.85 THz.

43 of 81 comments (clear)

  1. And there was a great disturbance in the force by TubeSteak · · Score: 4, Funny

    As if millions of audiophiles cried out in terror and were not heard because their amplifiers didn't have 10db of gain at 1.03 terahertz.

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    [Fuck Beta]
    o0t!
    1. Re:And there was a great disturbance in the force by UnknowingFool · · Score: 4, Funny

      That's only because they didn't get the Monster gold plated amplifiers. They make the screams sound more warm and natural.

      --
      Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
  2. uh oh.. zombies by brxndxn · · Score: 1, Funny

    One day, scientists are going to play the wrong frequency and it is going to re-arrange all our brains.. then.. zombie apocalypse..

    However, that can be circumvented if the scientists at one of those large colliders create the wrong matter that turns us all into zombies and starts a different zombie apocalypse..

    I had a better story.. but it's Halloween.. go out of your house and look at the women that dress sexy. Happy Halloween!

    --
    --- We need more Ron Paul!
    1. Re:uh oh.. zombies by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 1

      One day, scientists are going to play the wrong frequency and it is going to re-arrange all our brains.. then.. zombie apocalypse..

      Or discover the feared Brown Note. (Thank you South Park (and MythBusters) for putting that imagery in my head. Some things cannot be unseen.)

      --
      It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  3. Tetrahertz by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    From TFA:

    The ten-stage common-source amplifier operates at a speed of one terahertz (10^12 GHz)

    one tretrahertz is not 10^12 Ghz, it is 10^3 Ghz.

    1. Re:Tetrahertz by dumfrac · · Score: 3, Funny

      one tretrahertz is not 10^12 Ghz, it is 10^3 Ghz.

      Tretrahertz - the frequency at which trick or treaters visit your house.

  4. Not solid state... by friesofdoom · · Score: 1

    "the fastest solid-state amplifier integrated circuit ever measured."
    "Researchers under DARPA 's Terahertz Electronics (THz) program have designed and demonstrated a 0.85 Terahertz power amplifier using a micromachined vacuum tube..."

    'Solid-state' was the term invented to differentiate vacuum tube technology from semiconductor (solid-state) technology... Summary is not just wrong, it gets it exactly OPPOSITE this time.

    1. Re:Not solid state... by xfade551 · · Score: 3, Informative

      There are two articles linked. The first article is about a new integrated circuit amp. The second is about a year old and is about a separate vacuum tube amp. The first article mentions that the new IC amp broke the record of the earlier vacuum tube amp. So, for once, the summary is correct.

    2. Re:Not solid state... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      When transistors came out and started to replace vacuum tubes, you would see things like "All Solid State" on radios and such to indicate that they used transistors instead of vacuum tubes.

      In this case, it specifically refers to circuits or devices built entirely from solid materials and in which the electrons, or other charge carriers, are confined entirely within the solid material.

      dom

    3. Re:Not solid state... by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      'Solid-state' was the term invented to differentiate vacuum tube technology from semiconductor (solid-state) technology... Summary is not just wrong, it gets it exactly OPPOSITE this time.

      Well, the first link was for a transistor amp that goes to THz speeds.

      The second link was for a semiconductor fabbed amp that uses vacuum tube style technology to make it work. It isn't, ,however, at all close to your traditional vacuum tube. First, there's no filament - just applying a differential voltage (10-15V) is enough to start shedding electrons off the cathode. The gap is so small that the low voltage is adequate, and you almost never need to use a vacuum - you could operate it in regular atmospheric air, or improve performance by using helium. (the gap is so small, that there's few air molecules that'll get in the way so performance doesn't suffer too much.

      It works based on vacuum tube principles - a cathode sheds electrons, which flow through a regulating gate to an anode. But it's all made using current semiconductor processes on silicon. It's basically a solid state vacuum tube.

    4. Re:Not solid state... by MattskEE · · Score: 1

      No, the electron transport in vacuum tubes is in a vacuum. Vacuum is not a solid.

  5. Re:'Cause you might not trust DARPA... by mythosaz · · Score: 1

    I generally trust Guinness and their beers, but their new American Lager gives me pause.

  6. These only go to 9 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I'll wait for the ones that go to 11

  7. Vacuum power amplifier? by msauve · · Score: 1

    So, does a vacuum power amplifier make things suck more?

    --
    "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
    1. Re:Vacuum power amplifier? by Marginal+Coward · · Score: 1

      No, this is about a valve amplifier, not a hoover amplifier.

      (which reminds me: Happy Guy Fawkes Day in advance to our British friends here)

  8. Wait a minute by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

    What frequency does a LED put out? At least 430 THz, no?

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    1. Re:Wait a minute by bugs2squash · · Score: 1

      Call me a dope but yes...

      --
      Nullius in verba
  9. Barrier? by rsmith-mac · · Score: 1

    Barrier? I think the word you're looking for is "threshold" or even "mark."

    It's not a barrier unless there's some property that allows you to hit 999GHz but not 1THz, which in turn requires extraordinary effort to surmount.

    Just because you have achieved something new does not mean you have broken a barrier. At best you have broken the English language..

    1. Re:Barrier? by SuricouRaven · · Score: 1

      You break the brag-barrier. Those round numbers aren't especially important in mathematics or engineering, but human cultures today use base ten, so they are important psychologically. That's why the 99-cents/pence on store prices works.

  10. Great... by spud_boy_65986534 · · Score: 1

    ...now TSA can get even higher resolution images of our junk.

  11. Re:Well it's about time by ArchieBunker · · Score: 1

    Interesting component, I had not heard of that type of oscillator before. But the keyword is oscillator. They built an amplifier.

    --
    Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
  12. i miss old slashdot by Crizzam · · Score: 1

    Not with that ID number, you don't.

  13. Re:i miss old slashdot by chuckugly · · Score: 1

    It's possible - I lurked without signing up for close to a decade.

  14. Re:Practical Aplications? by chuckugly · · Score: 1

    Radar

  15. Re:i miss old slashdot by Ceriel+Nosforit · · Score: 1

    I feel for you...
    So, imagine a beowulf cluster of these things!

    I would imagine that interconnect with these things would be an issue. Usually computation is cheap while bandwidth is expensive, so you might have to use a huge number of extremely small computational cores to get the kind of linear increases in speed we'd expect. That would have to result in a RISC arcitecture, and apparently you can build a more or less complete computational core with just 70 transistors.

    Not sure if anyone has ever tried to make a parallel processor out of those, but Maxim Integrated has a microcontroller called the MaxQ in this category of exotic architectures.

    --
    All rites reversed 2010
  16. Re:Practical Aplications? by ChrisMaple · · Score: 1

    Idiot

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  17. Re:'Cause you might not trust DARPA... by Scottingham · · Score: 1

    I know it! I can't stand those evil food stamps going to hungry children...psh..government!

  18. DARPA didn't make this, Northrup Grumman did by crgrace · · Score: 1

    DARPA is an organization that provides grants to researchers. It does not do the work.

    The work was performed by engineers at Northrup Grumman. This work was funded by DARPA.

    1. Re:DARPA didn't make this, Northrup Grumman did by DaveAtFraud · · Score: 1

      Better article at finance.yahoo.com: https://finance.yahoo.com/news... that I ran across on Tuesday.(I own some NOC stock).

      Cheers,
      Dave

      --
      They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty.
      Ben
  19. Re:'Cause you might not trust DARPA... by SuricouRaven · · Score: 2

    You make a good point, but it would be an error to accept your general argument in all cases. There are situations where government intervention is the best tool to solve a problem, but many people are so strong in defaulting to the 'more government is bad' position that they are unable to admit when these situations arise.

  20. Cable TV applications by Eravnrekaree · · Score: 2

    Does this mean that RF cable television systems will be able to expand their bandwidth?

    1. Re:Cable TV applications by Ignacio · · Score: 1

      There'll be 500,000 channels and still nothing on.

  21. We use stuff like this by NixieBunny · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I work in submillimeter wave astronomy, where we would be happy to have a terahertz preamplifier for our receivers. We currently use miers mixer that work at that frequency, but the mixer has to be made with superconducting waveguide to have good performance. There are about five places in the world that know how to make that sort of chip.

    --
    The determined Real Programmer can write Fortran programs in any language.
    1. Re:We use stuff like this by NixieBunny · · Score: 1

      3D printing is useless at these frequencies. The metal blocks that the waveguides and mixers live in are machined with a milling machine capable of one micron precision. The dimensions are that critical.

      --
      The determined Real Programmer can write Fortran programs in any language.
    2. Re:We use stuff like this by perryizgr8 · · Score: 1

      I would think 3D printing would be more precise? Because the printer could just create smaller drops of the printing material Why is it not so?

      --
      Wealth is the gift that keeps on giving.
    3. Re:We use stuff like this by MattskEE · · Score: 1

      Why does the 3D printing matter? Some people do make ultra high frequency waveguide with 3D printing - in the case I'm familiar with they "printed" it on a stereolithgraphy machine out of a polymer, then gold plated all of the surfaces. It may have some applications for complex waveguide circuits which are not possible to make by other methods in a given size constraint. However, getting the plating thickness just right on such a small scale when you have to plate the inside of the long and super narrow waveguide tubes is difficult and conventional machining techniques are often faster and cheaper, and can have higher material quality than a printed or plated material.

      The point of the Northrop Grumman work is that the circuit is integrated on a chip, so the waveguide interconnect will be relatively simple and simple objects can generally be made better, faster, and cheaper, by conventional techniques.

  22. Re:Well it's about time by TechyImmigrant · · Score: 1

    >At that point the connectors are lossier than the gain maybe...

    The pot-o-gold is to do it on silicon, with the downconversion a few nm away.
     

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  23. I remember the old Damn Fast Op Amps... by rnturn · · Score: 1

    What will they call these?

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    CUR ALLOC 20195.....5804M
  24. Re:i miss old slashdot by Jack+Griffin · · Score: 1

    Only speaking for myself but I open new accounts on all my regularly visited sites every couple of years for privacy reasons. This account has a high ID but I've been here since the 90's.

  25. Re:'Cause you might not trust DARPA... by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 1

    but many people are so strong in defaulting to the 'more government is bad' position that they are unable to admit when these situations arise

    But you and the other responder above seem to have misunderstood me. I didn't say government was always bad. I just said it has to be watched (like a hawk). "Necessary evil" doesn't mean it's always evil... it means something you'd generally rather do without but probably can't.

    My point was that even when it's doing things we might all agree are good, it has to be watched to make sure it's doing it right and efficiently, not doing it improperly or corruptly, or overstepping its bounds (all things the Obama administration, among others, is notorious for.)

  26. Just listen to the sustain! by MagickalMyst · · Score: 1

    This one goes to 11.

    --
    Political correctness is really just herd psychology pushed by insecure people who desperately seek social conformity.
  27. Re:Practical Aplications? by perryizgr8 · · Score: 1

    What devices use amplifiers?

    Every single device uses amplifiers.

    --
    Wealth is the gift that keeps on giving.
  28. Re:This *may* help... apk by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

    He's from the old Slashdot. ;-D

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