IBM Triples Transistor Performance With Germanium

KingFish

IBM has successfully demonstrated a new technique for improving transistor performance that will help the company build smaller, more powerful chips in the next decade, company researchers said Monday.

The Armonk, New York, company has discovered a way to use the element germanium to improve the flow of electrons through its transistors, says Huiling Shang, a research staff member at IBM. A layer of strained germanium is applied directly to the channel of the transistor, or the area through which electrical current passes, in order to open up additional space for electrons within the channel.

Transistors built with strained germanium should have three times the performance of conventional transistors, Shang says.

Germanium has been used in smaller doses by several companies, including IBM, in an existing manufacturing technique called strained silicon. In this technique, a mixture of germanium and silicon is placed next to a layer of pure silicon, which causes the silicon atoms to stretch in order to align themselves with the silicon germanium atoms. This opens a wider path that allows more electrons to flow through the circuit.

Source: PCWorld

mmonnin

That means a small power requirement as its easier for current to flow, IE less voltage.