IBM just demonstrated graphene transistors that could become a replacement for pure silicon-based ICs.

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Photo: Courtesy of IBM, posted at EE Times

The demonstration showed 100GHz operation at room temperature with a production goal of 1THz.

This is funded by DARPA the folks who really created the Internet.

We need to add Silicon-Carbide (SiC) to our vocabulary.

I’ll never forget the transition from NMOS technology to CMOS technology. When I was doing DRAM designs the performance was limited by the power dissipation on the chip and the ability of the ceramic or plastic packages to conduct heat away from the chip. Higher temperatures would slow down chip speeds.

CMOS came to the rescue and provided a much lower standby and switching power characteristics.

Today, we’re at a similar inflection point, hoping that something new will replace bulk CMOS transistors that will allow billions of transistors at a reasonable cost and run on batteries.