Title :
Beyond Silicon´s Elemental Logic
Abstract :
In the quest for speed, key parts of microprocessors may soon be made of gallium arsenide or other III-V semiconductors. Today the 8080´s most advanced descendant operates 100 000 times as fast. This phenomenal progress is a direct result of the semiconductor industry´s ability to reduce the size of a microprocessor´s fundamental building blocks - its many metal-oxide- semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs), which act as tiny switches.
Keywords :
III-V semiconductors; MOSFET; gallium arsenide; gallium compounds; logic devices; microprocessor chips; III-V semiconductors; MOSFET; Si; gallium arsenide; metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors; microprocessors; semiconductor industry; silicon elemental logic; Electronics industry; FETs; Gallium arsenide; III-V semiconductor materials; Logic; MOSFETs; Microprocessors; Silicon;
Journal_Title :
Spectrum, IEEE
DOI :
10.1109/MSPEC.2008.4607930
