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FinFETs Shimmy to 5G's Frequencies

posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday February 20 2018, @11:18PM   
from the shimmy-and-shake dept.

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Engineers at Purdue University and GlobalFoundries have gotten today's most advanced transistors to vibrate at frequencies that could make 5G phones and other gadgets smaller and more energy efficient. The feat could also improve CPU clocks, make wearable radars, and one day form the basis of a new kind of computing. They presented their results today at the IEEE International Solid-States Circuits Conference, in San Francisco.

https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/semiconductors/devices/finfets-shimmy-to-5gs-frequencies

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Original Submission

• Re:and form the basis of a new kind of computing (Score: 3, Informative) by requerdanos on Wednesday February 21 2018, @01:28AM

  by requerdanos (5997) on Wednesday February 21 2018, @01:28AM (#640975) Journal

  So its a vibrating clock. But where does the transistor bit come in?

  The transistor has fins, and their vibration keeps time. I suppose that must be analogous to a pendulum, albeit a really really really small fast one. I guess they're clocky transistors.

  Here's a neat picture [anandtech.com] of a finFET transistor whose fins could be made to vibrate (wiggle, shimmy, what-have-you) with this new technology (picture appears on this page [maltiel-consulting.com] (scroll down to "The 3D Tri-Gate Transistor").

  I suppose you could make a finFET something else and it could wiggle, too, now, but I gather the excitement comes from making the transistor subcomponents vibrate. It's frankly over my head.

  Parent

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