IBM’s new ultra-dense chip squeezes a lot of processing power into a small chip, a direct result of shrinking the fundamental transistors that make up chips.
In fact, IBM’s new chip is reportedly four times as powerful as today’s best silicon!
At the moment, manufacturers are transitioning into an era where 10 nanometers is the standard size for transistors, down from 14 nanometers in the past.
IBM’s announcement, however, explores the possibility of creating 7-nanometer transistors, pretty crazy when you take into account a strand of DNA measures 2.5 nanometers in diameter.
By using silicon-germanium in the manufacturing process rather than pure silicon, transistors are able to switch faster, use less power, and sit more densely on a chip.
While IBM’s new ultra-dense chip is still in its advanced research stage, the company believes processors with more than 20 billion transistors should be a possibility.
Four times faster than the best silicon currently available sounds good to me!
