Transistors are basic building blocks in analog circuit applications like variable-gain amplifiers, data converters, interface circuits, and continuous-time oscillators and filters. The design of the transistor has undergone many changes since it debut in 1948. Not only have they become smaller, but also their speeds have increased along with their ability to conserve power. Transistor research breakthroughs will allow us to continue Moore?s Law through end of decade. IC Industry is making transition from Planar to Non-Planar Transistors. This development has potential to enable products with higher performance that use less power. Effective transistor frequency scaling is an ever present problem for integrated circuit manufacturers as today's designs are pushing the limits of current generation technology. As more and more transistors are packed onto a sliver of silicon, and they are run at higher and higher speeds, the total amount of power consumed by chips is getting out of hand. Chips that draw too much power get too hot, drain batteries unnecessarily (in mobile applications) and consume too much electricity. This is a major problem. If this power problem is not addressed, Moore?s Law will be throttled and futuristic applications such as real-time speech recognition and translation, real-time facial recognition (for security applications) or rendered graphics with the qualities of video will never be realized. These types of applications will require microprocessors with far more transistors than today, and running at much higher speeds than today also the aging architecture simply is not well suited to scaling to high frequencies. Engineers are already hard at work, developing new technologies to increase transistor efficiency and scaling. A recent dive through the Intel technology archives indicates that researchers are already forging ahead with exciting new architectures expected to deliver transistors capable of Terahertz operation by the end of this decade. Intel?s researchers have developed a new type of transistor that it plans to use to make microprocessors and other logic products (such as chip sets) in the second half of the decade called ?Terahertz? transistor. A Terahertz transistor is able to switch between its ?on? and ?off? state over 1,000,000,000,000 times per second (equal to 1000 Gigahertz.). That?s why the name Terahertz transistor. The key problem solved by the Terahertz transistor is that of power, making the transistors smaller and faster is not feasible due to the power problem. Intel?s new Terahertz transistor allows for scaling, and addresses the power problem. The goal with the TeraHertz transistor is that microprocessors will consume no more power than today, even though they will consist of many more transistors. The TeraHertz transistor has features, which solves the problems like unwanted current flow across gate dielectric, unwanted current flow from source to drain when transistor is ?off? and High voltage needed and thereby increasing power usage.
Intel Terahertz was Intel's new design for transistors. It uses new materials such as zirconium dioxide which is a superior insulator reducing current leakages. According to Intel, the new design could use only 0.6 volts. Intel TeraHertz was unveiled in 2001. As of 2010, it is not used in processors.
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