Researchers at IBM and the Georgia Institute of Technology are set to 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 now.
The achievement is a major step in the evolution of computer semiconductor technology that could eventually lead to faster networks and more powerful electronics at lower prices, said Bernard Meyerson, vice president and chief technologist in IBM’s systems and technology group. He said developments like this one typically find their way into commercial products in 12 to 24 months.
The researchers, using a cryogenic test station, achieved the speed milestone by “freezing” the chip to 451 degrees below zero Fahrenheit using liquid helium. That temperature, normally found only in outer space, is just 9 degrees above absolute zero, the temperature at which all movement is thought to cease.
At 500 gigahertz, the technology is 250 times faster than chips in cellphones, which operate at 2 gigahertz. At room temperature, the chips operate at 350 gigahertz, far faster than other chips.
Meyerson compared the achievement to the development of the chips used in Wi-Fi networks. It wasn’t until the semiconductor technology used in those networks was produced with silicon that the price of wireless networking become affordable for consumers.
Dan Olds, a principal at the Gabriel Consulting Group, a Portland, Ore., technology consulting firm, said the development was significant because it showed the chip industry had not yet reached its upper limits.