Корпорация Ай-би-эм (IBM) собирается объявить о технологическом прорыве: ученые создали силиконовый чип, который по быстродействию превосходит остальные больше чем на два порядка - 500 гигагерц.

Он может привести к революции в ИТ-индустрии. В первую очередь это будет означать более дешевую и мощную электронику. Сверхскорость достигнута за счет охлаждения до температуры близкой к абсолютному нулю - минус 270 по Цельсию. При комнатной температуре скорость чипа - 350 гигагерц.

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from http://www.ibm.com/news/us/en/2006/06/2006_06_20.html
Researchers from IBM and the Georgia Institute of Technology have demonstrated the first silicon-based chip capable of operating at frequencies above 500 GHz -- 500 billion cycles per second. That’s about 250 times faster than today’s cell phone processors and about 100 times faster than PCs. There is one catch – the chip was cryogenically “frozen” to 451 degrees below zero Fahrenheit (4.5 Kelvin). Such extreme cold is found naturally only in outer space, but can be achieved on Earth using ultra-cold materials such as liquid helium. (If you’re counting, Absolute Zero, the lowest possible temperature in nature, occurs at minus 459.67 degrees Fahrenheit).

“This work redefines the upper bounds of what is possible using silicon-germanium nanotechnology techniques,” said John D. Cressler, Byers Professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and a researcher in the Georgia Electronic Design Center (GEDC) at Georgia Tech.

The chip experiments are helping to explore the ultimate speed limits of silicon-germanium (SiGe) devices, which operate faster at very cold temperatures. The chips used in the research operated at approximately 350 GHz at room temperature. However, computer simulations suggest that the silicon-germanium (SiGe) technology used in the chip could ultimately support even higher (near 1,000 GHz) operational frequencies even at room temperature.