ARM CTO: power surge could create 'dark silicon' Oct 23, 2009
In a decade, 11nm process technology could deliver devices with 16 times more transistors running 2 ... But those devices will only use a third as much energy as today's parts, leaving engineers with a power budget so pinched they may be able to activate only nine percent of those transistors, Muller said. (EETimes)
Smallest Electronic Component: Researchers Create Molecular Diode Oct 20, 2009
The first generation computer CPU used a few thousand transistors, Tao says noting the steep advance of silicon technology. "Now even simple, cheap computers use millions of transistors on a single chip." ... But lately, the task of miniaturization has gotten much harder, and the famous dictum known as Moore's law which states that the number of silicon-based transistors on a chip doubles every 18-24 months will eventually reach its physical limits. (Science Daily)
MEMS film could enable brighter, cheaper displays Oct 17, 2009
(10/16/2009 12:27 PM EDT). possible successor to the CRT, LCD and even the organic LED is scheduled to hit the market next year, according to a MEMS film developer. (EETimes)
IEDM offers most recent research nuggets Oct 16, 2009
This year, Intel researchers will describe InGaAs quantum-well field effect transistors (QWFETs) with an integrated composite high-k dielectric for reduced gate leakage ... At the IEDM, UC-Berkeley researchers will describe a wetting-based technique used to build self-aligned organic transistors and circuits with a minimum overlap of just 0. (EETimes)
A battery made from cellulose: Paperweight Oct 15, 2009
In addition, other researchers have recently made paper-based transistors. Dr Mihranyan s battery could power electronics based on these. (The Economist)
Physicists Find Nature's Limit to Faster PCs Oct 13, 2009
Intel co-founder Gordon Moore predicted 40 years ago that manufacturers could double computing speed every two years or so by cramming ever-tinier transistors on a chip. His prediction became known as Moore's Law, and it has held true throughout the evolution of computers. (Fox News)
Singapore, U.S. institutes to develop green electronics Oct 13, 2009
According to a statement by Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) on Tuesday, the agreement focused on developing ultra-efficient nano-scale transistors and exploring their circuit-level functionality. The collaborative research targets design, modeling, fabrication, and characterization of an emerging category of "green" nano-scale devices with ultra-low leakage. (Xinhuanet, China)
Net nomads of the electronic age Oct 8, 2009
I also benefited greatly from the workings of Moore's Law (which describes the trend that the number of transistors in a chip roughly doubles every two years), as the laptops I owned became more and more powerful, so that the machine I use today is faster and has a lot more memory than the four-year old desktop it replaced, while my mobile phone outstrips my old Vaio laptop on every scale except screen size. And I started to make use of cloud-based services, with shared calendars, online... (BBC News -- Technology)
Elpida May Spend $452 Million to Boost Output of Smaller Semiconductors Oct 8, 2009
A nanometer, one billionth of a meter, measures the size of transistors within a chip where lower numbers indicate more advanced technology that enables smaller, more efficient chips to be made. of benchmark dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, which temporarily holds data and helps computer processors run multiple programs simultaneously, have almost tripled this year after falling 62 percent in 2008, according to Dramexchange Technology Inc., operator of Asias biggest spot market for... (Bloomberg -- Japan)
Filming Photons, One Million Times A Second Oct 8, 2009
7, 2009) Researchers have created a CMOS (semiconductor) camera capable of filming individual photons one million times a second. The scientists wanted to create the fastest, highest resolution CMOS (semiconductor) video camera, but to do that they needed to choose an ultra-fast photo detector. (Science Daily)
Better Control Of Carbon Nanotube 'Growth' Promising For Future Electronics Oct 3, 2009
2, 2009) Researchers have overcome a major obstacle in efforts to use tiny structures called carbon nanotubes to create a new class of electronics that would be faster and smaller than conventional silicon-based transistors ... "This problem of how to control whether you have a metal or a semiconductor is the key stumbling block in making transistors out of carbon nanotubes," said Eric Stach, an associate professor of materials engineering at Purdue ... Silicon-based transistors control the flow... (Science Daily)
nVidia's New 'Fermi': 'Supercomputing in a GPU' Oct 2, 2009
Fermi is a beast of a chip, with three billion transistors ... 3 billion transistors, and that's enormous by Intel standards. (Datamation)
Jim Hillibish: Dad knew his way around old-time electronic systems Oct 2, 2009
Then came TVs and then transistors. Dad almost cried, his electronics expertise suddenly was meaningless. (Belmont Citizen Herald, MA)
IDF 09: Intel here, there and everywhere Oct 2, 2009
9 billion transistors can be packed into an area the size of a fingernail ... By continuing to shrink its manufacturing process, Intel will be making its chips faster by packing more transistors per chip and they will be more power efficient as well ... 9 billion transistors. (The Star Online, Malaysia)
Analysis: TI fab ramp puts analog rivals on notice Oct 2, 2009
Page 1 of 3 (09/29/2009 9:09 PM EDT). -- Having finally announced its intent for a 300-mm fab in the United States, Texas Instruments Inc. is putting its analog rivals on notice. (EETimes)
Researchers present MRAM-based FPGA architecture Oct 2, 2009
Researchers said they have demonstrated a non-volatile FPGA circuit based on non volatile resistive memory cell whose structure is made by cross-coupled inverters in the form of a latch with access transistors ... When read signal opens access transistors, read current flowing through the NVMD can be sensed in the latch. (EETimes)
Fujitsu Develops World's First Millimeter-Wave Gallium-Nitride Transceiver Amplifier Chipset Oct 1, 2009
However, because the parasitic capacitance of transistors worsens with high-frequency signals of 70 GHz or higher, the signal amplification rate to magnify weak incoming signals - to enable them to be identified - is insufficient, as the incoming signals become buried in noise. 2. (JCN Network, Japan)
NPL supports growing organic electronics industry Sep 30, 2009
Determined the structure of organic semiconductor layers for thin-film transistors using molecular resolution atomic force microscopy and X-ray diffraction. Developed a wettability model based on chemical mapping, which effectively describes experimental surface energy data, as determined by micro-contact angle measurement of printing substrates. (EurekAlert! -- Business News)
Electric Fish Plug In To Communicate Sep 30, 2009
29, 2009) Just as people plug in to computers, smart phones and electric outlets to communicate, electric fish communicate by quickly plugging special channels into their cells to generate electrical impulses, University of Texas at Austin researchers have discovered. The fish generate electric fields to navigate, fight and attract mates in murky streams and rivers throughout Central and South America. (Science Daily)
Perfect Image Without Metamaterials ... And A Reprieve For Silicon Chips Sep 30, 2009
Perfect Image Without Metamaterials. And A Reprieve For Silicon Chips. (Science Daily)
Melting memory chips in mass production Sep 26, 2009
"At the time, the industry was still exploring basic transistors," says Gregory Atwood, a senior fellow at Numonyx Memory Solutions in Rolle, Switzerland, another company that produces PCM memory. As a result, other kinds of transistor-based memory, such as the flash memory currently installed in most mobile phones and mp3 players, were closer to the market. (Scientific American)
India finds water on moon Sep 26, 2009
Essentially, the lower the nanometer measure, the higher the number of transistors that can be squeezed onto a chip. Moores Law dictates that the number of transistors that can be placed inexpensively on an integrated circuit has doubled about every two years; it is the foundation of everything that Intel does. (Asia Times Online)
New Findings Could Help Hybrid, Electric Cars Keep Their Cool Sep 24, 2009
The new type of cooling system will be used to prevent overheating of devices called insulated gate bipolar transistors, high-power switching transistors used in hybrid and electric vehicles. The chips are required to drive electric motors, switching large amounts of power from the battery pack to electrical coils needed to accelerate a vehicle from zero to 60 mph in 10 seconds or less. (Science Daily)
Intel paints bright picture of global PC sales Sep 24, 2009
9 billion transistors. Intels first chips in the 1970s had just a few thousand transistors. (The Star Online, Malaysia)
Intel shows chips can get smaller Sep 24, 2009
The chip firm has shown what is thought to be the first working chip using transistors with features just 22nm (billionths of a metre) across ... The chip contains nearly three billion transistors packed into an area the size of a fingernail, but Intel says there could be smaller to come ... The development shows there is still life in Moore's Law, which states the number of transistors it is possible to pack on a silicon chip for a fixed cost will double every two years. (BBC News -- Americas)
Otellini: Intel to ship more SoCs than PC CPUs -- someday Sep 23, 2009
9 billion transistors. Intel plans to ship products using 22nm technology in late 2011 and will have its first Westmere-based chips based on. (EETimes)
Footy and religion Sep 23, 2009
30 everyone decanted from the Synagogue and the streets were populated with unlawful transistors and open car doors. On victory we were ecstatic. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Opinion)
AMD Changes the Game with ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series DirectX® 11-Compliant Graphics Cards, Harnessing the Most Powerful Processor Ever Created1 Sep 23, 2009
The GPU in the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series of graphics has 215 billion transistors. As of September 17, 2009, this is more than any other known processor. (Yahoo! Wire -- Entertainment News)
A recipe for controlling carbon nanotubes Sep 21, 2009
CLEVELAND Nanoscopic tubes made of a lattice of carbon just a single atom deep hold promise for delivering medicines directly to a tumor, sensors so keen they detect the arrival or departure of a single electron, a replacement for costly platinum in fuel cells or as energy saving transistors and wires ... About two thirds are semiconducting nanotubes, which could be used as transistors, Chiang explained ... They are now working on assessing the purity and integrating the nanotubes into thin... (EurekAlert!)
New Material For Nanoscale Computer Chips Sep 18, 2009
Today the foundation of our computers, mobile phones and other electronic apparatus is silicon transistors. A transistor is in principal an on- and off- contact and there are millions of tiny transistors on every computer chip ... However, we are reaching the limit for how small we can make transistors out of silicon. (Science Daily)
Graphitic Memory: Advances Bring Graphite As Storage Medium A Step Closer Sep 14, 2009
13, 2009) Advances by the Rice University lab of James Tour have brought graphite s potential as a mass data storage medium a step closer to reality and created the potential for reprogrammable gate arrays that could bring about a revolution in integrated circuit logic design. In a paper published in the online journal ACS Nano, Tour and postdoctoral associate Alexander Sinitskii show how they've used industry-standard lithographic techniques to deposit 10-nanometer stripes of amorphous... (Science Daily)
Nanoelectronic Transistor Combined With Biological Machine Could Lead To Better Electronics Sep 8, 2009
The researchers incorporated lipid bilayer membranes into silicon nanowire transistors by covering the nanowire with a continuous lipid bilayer shell that forms a barrier between the nanowire surface and solution species. This 'shielded wire' configuration allows us to use membrane pores as the only pathway for the ions to reach the nanowire, Noy said. (Science Daily)
Organic Electronics A Two-way Street, Thanks To New Plastic Semiconductor Sep 8, 2009
The material would allow organic transistors and other information-processing devices to be built more simply, in a way that is more similar to how inorganic circuits are now made. The group used the new material to build a transistor designed in the same way as a silicon model and the results show that both electrons and holes move through the device quickly. (Science Daily)
Large-scale Study Probes How Cells Fight Pathogens Sep 7, 2009
But instead of tiny transistors, the internal circuitry of mammalian cells is made up of vast networks of genes and their corresponding proteins. A frontier of modern genomic research is to identify these molecular parts and their interconnections, which reflect the normal and sometimes faulty "wiring" that underlies human biology and disease. (Science Daily)
Mysterious Charge Transport In Self-assembled Monolayer Transistors Unraveled Sep 1, 2009
31, 2009) An international team of researchers from the Netherlands, Russia and Austria discovered that monolayer coverage and channel length set the mobility in self-assembled monolayer field-effect transistors (SAMFETs) ... Mathijssen et al. Monolayer coverage and channel length set the mobility in self-assembled monolayer field-effect transistors ... 4, 2007) A flat screen that can be rolled up and put into a jacket pocket -- organic transistors with low energy consumption could make this... (Science Daily)
Modeling Nano-worlds: Slashing Production Development Time And Costs For Integrated Circuits Sep 1, 2009
But as transistors, already at nano-scales, become ever smaller, researchers are modelling new worlds ... That is because the scale of the transistors manufactured in high volumes for these electronic devices decreased considerably ... For many years, silicon dioxide has been the material of choice in field-effect transistors because of its uniformity and high interface quality. (Science Daily)
Single molecule's stunning image Aug 28, 2009
That will help in particular in the field of "molecular electronics", a potential future for electronics in which individual molecules serve as switches and transistors. Although the approach can trace out the ethereal bonds that connect atoms, it cannot distinguish between atoms of different types. (BBC News)
* Fujitsu to develop 28 nanometer chips with TSMC Aug 28, 2009
A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter and measures the width of transistors in a chip, where a smaller gap means more transistors can be packed on each wafer. This story has been viewed 277 times. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- World Business)
Gartner ups semi market expectations Aug 28, 2009
While this still is significantly lower than in 2008 when the industry sold chips and transistors for $255 billion, Gartner sees a very positive response from customers to price reductions offered by device vendors under the pressure of the crisis. "Consumers reacted strongly to reduced PCs and LCD TV pricing as price elasticity as amazing," said Gartner research vice president Bryan Lewis. (EETimes)
Raytheon wins Navy research contract Aug 28, 2009
"The COSMOS program focuses on integrating high-performance compound semiconductors, such as Indium phosphide or Gallium arsenide, with low-cost silicon transistors to achieve superior cost benefits and performance than what is available today," said Michael Del Checcolo, vice president of engineering for Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems. "These technological advances allow us to provide more complex and highly sophisticated solutions for our warfighters.". (FCW.com)
Moral Machines? New Approach To Decision Making Based On Computational Logic Aug 27, 2009
25, 2008) Researchers are reporting an advance toward a new generation of ultra-powerful computers built from DNA and enzymes, rather than transistors, silicon chips, and plastic. They describe development of. (Science Daily)
Fujitsu Says its Chip Unit May Post $107 Million Profit Next Fiscal Year Aug 27, 2009
A nanometer is a billionth of a meter and measures the width of transistors in a chip, where a smaller gap means more transistors can be packed on each wafer, making the chip cheaper to make. To contact the reporter on this story: Pavel Alpeyev in Tokyo at. (Bloomberg -- Japan)
Engineer seeks $60 million bonus from Atmel Aug 26, 2009
Schueppen joined the Daimler-Benz research centre in Ulm, Germany, in 1993, where he worked on SiGe technology and improved in 1994 the then world record for silicon-based transistors to 160-GHz maximum frequency of oscillation. During 1995 and 1996 he transferred the SiGe technology from Daimler in Ulm to production at TEMIC Telefunken Microelectonics in Heilbronn, Germany. (EETimes)
Tiny Robots Get A Grip On Nanotubes Aug 25, 2009
Applications in composite materials, displays and new kinds of transistors are all being talked about ... 15, 2006) Why would anyone want to shrink carbon nanotubes (CNTs), those cylinders of pure carbon with properties ideal for a new generation of sensors, transistors, super-strong fabrics, and nanoscale. (Science Daily)
Nuclear Fusion Research Key To Advancing Computer Chips Aug 25, 2009
New nanolithography will be needed to continue advances in computer technology and to extend Moore's law, an unofficial rule stating that the number of transistors on integrated circuits, or chips, doubles about every 18 months ... The technology revolves around extremely thin plasma beams for making tiny features in future computer chips and continuing Moore's law, an unofficial rule stating that the number of transistors on integrated circuits, or chips, doubles about every 18 months ... 7,... (Science Daily)
Let There Be Light: Teaching Magnets To Do More Than Just Stick Around Aug 24, 2009
Silicon-based semiconductor chips incorporate tiny transistors that manipulate electrons based on their charges. Scientists also are working on ways to use electricity to manipulate the electrons' magnetism, referred to as "spin," but are still searching for the breakthrough that will allow "spintronics" to function at room temperature without losing large amounts of the capability they have at frigid temperatures. (Science Daily)
Silicon chips stretch into shape Aug 22, 2009
Using the material, the researchers were able to show off individual, flexible circuit components such as transistors. The new work features complete silicon chips, known as integrated circuits (ICs), which can be stretched in two directions and in a more complex fashion. (BBC News -- Technology)
'Microneedle' Patch May Take Sting Out Of Shots Aug 21, 2009
Prausnitz says that advances in the electronics industry in microfabricating very small objects like transistors enabled the development of microneedles. "We've built off those technological advances to address a need in medicine," he explains. (Science Daily)
Nanophysics: Serving Up Buckyballs On A Silver Platter Aug 21, 2009
The electronic properties of C60 are very unusual, and there is a massive research effort toward integrating it into molecular scale electronic devices like transistors and logic gates. To do this, researchers need to know how the molecule forms bonds with a metal substrate, such as silver, which is commonly used as an electrode in devices. (Science Daily)
IBM Scientists Use DNA Scaffolding To Build Tiny Circuit Boards Aug 17, 2009
Today, the semiconductor industry is faced with the challenges of developing lithographic technology for feature sizes smaller than 22 nm and exploring new classes of transistors that employ carbon nanotubes or silicon nanowires. IBM's approach of using DNA molecules as scaffolding -- where millions of carbon nanotubes could be deposited and self-assembled into precise patterns by sticking to the DNA molecules - may provide a way to reach sub-22 nm lithography. (PR Newswire)
Graphene Has High Current Capacity, Thermal Conductivity Aug 16, 2009
Murali and his colleagues have been studying graphene as a potential replacement for copper in on-chip interconnects, the tiny wires that are used to connect transistors and other devices on integrated circuits ... (May 29, 2008) Stanford chemists have developed a new way to make transistors out of carbon nanoribbons. (Science Daily)
45-nanometer Chips For Ultra-fast WiFi Aug 14, 2009
That echoes chip scaling in the digital domain where Moore s Law predicts that the number of transistors that can be placed inexpensively on an integrated circuit will lead to a doubling of computer processing power approximately every two years. For example, different wireless technologies, from WiFi and Bluetooth to the UMTS and CDMA mobile standards, mean that smart phones have to have a variety of radios in them to pick up the different signals in different frequency ranges. (Science Daily)
DeFazio expects no disruptions Aug 13, 2009
heck, if you were to call the shots, Pluto would still be a planet, we'd be using tubes instead of transistors, and the atom would consist exclusively of a nucleus. I'm sorry that your "I'll believe anything they told me in 1950" mentality exists, but for the good of the world, please stop. (Coos Bay-North Bend The World, OR)
UC Santa Barbara and Burnham Institute for Medical Research announce director Aug 11, 2009
"The impact of this new field of science, termed 'nanomedicine,' on medicine and life sciences will be hugely transformative, comparable in magnitude to the transition from transistors to silicon chips in the computer sciences.". Larry Coldren, acting dean of UCSB's College of Engineering and Kavli Professor of Optoelectronics and Sensors, described the new center's collaborative opportunities in nanomedicine and systems biology as a "perfect complement" to research underway at UCSB on networked... (EurekAlert! -- Business News)
Parts reborn as Borg robots Aug 6, 2009
7-inch circular saw blade Porcelain baby doll face Switches Capacitors Transistors Circuit boards Buttons Chains A working watch. Reader Comments From the editor: Many of you have expressed concerns about some of the harsh anonymous comments from readers. (Yuma Daily Sun, AZ)
From Graphene To Graphane, Now The Possibilities Are Endless Aug 4, 2009
But graphene, which consists of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb lattice, has a major drawback when it comes to applications in electronics it conducts electricity almost too well, making it hard to create graphene-based transistors that are suitable for integrated circuits. In August s Physics World, Kostya Novoselov - a condensed-matter physicist from the Manchester University group that discovered graphene -- explains how their discovery of graphane, an insulating equivalent of graphene,... (Science Daily)
CFO briefs Framingham selectmen Aug 2, 2009
Kelley also told the board that the telecommunications poles and wires tax loophole has been closed, while a tax loophole for telecommunications transistors is still being debated in the state's supreme court. She advised selectmen to be prepared for potential shortfalls in motor vehicle excise taxes and investment income. (Framingham TAB, MA)
Game Utilizes Human Intuition To Help Computers Solve Complex Problems Jul 31, 2009
The online logic puzzle is called FunSAT, and it could help integrated circuit designers select and arrange transistors and their connections on silicon microchips, among other applications. Designing chip architecture for the best performance and smallest size is an exceedingly difficult task that's outsourced to computers these days. (Science Daily)
Silicon With Afterburners: New Process Could Be Boon To Electronics Manufacturer Jul 25, 2009
Moore's Law, suggested by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore in 1965, said the number of transistors that can be placed on an integrated circuit doubles about every two years ... But as manufacturers pack more transistors onto integrated circuits by making the circuits ever smaller, doping gets problematic. (Science Daily)
Intels New Mexico clean room upgrade is huge endeavor Jul 25, 2009
The final product includes millions of intricately designed transistors for highly complex, ultra-fast processing, Hendry said. He compared the transistors to blades of grass on a football field. (New Mexico Business Weekly, NM)
Stove Converts Heat Into Sound Then Electricity Jul 20, 2009
23, 2009) By reversing a process that converts electrical signals into sounds heard out of a cell phone, researchers may have a new tool to enhance the way computer chips, LEDs and transistors are. (Apr. (Science Daily)
New One-Atom Thick Material Has Scientists Abuzz Jul 15, 2009
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is spending $22 million on research to make and transistors out of graphene. Graphene was the leading topic at the annual meeting of the American Physical Society _ a leading organization of physicists _ in Pittsburgh in April. (Newsmax)
Tying Up Loose Ends For A Quantum Leap Jul 14, 2009
Where we are now is comparable to where research into transistors was in the 1920s, and trying back then to predict the development of today s personal computers from those early beginnings, Theussl points out. It is hard to say what the impact on society will be 20 or 50 years from now, but the potential is truly enormous. (Science Daily)
New wonder material, one-atom thick, has scientists abuzz Jul 10, 2009
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is spending $22 million on research to make computer chips and transistors out of graphene. Graphene was the leading topic at the annual meeting of the American Physical Society a leading organization of physicists in Pittsburgh in April. (Yahoo News -- Technology)
* TSMC to raise research spending 20% Jul 7, 2009
A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter and measures the width of the transistors packed in a semiconductor. This story has been viewed 334 times. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- Business)
