Re: Silicon-germanium routers?

[Warren Kumari]

The point that I was trying to make (admittedly REALLY badly) was  
that this is not the 'next big thing' .

Did you read anything more than just that article?


IBMs press release is here:
http://www-03.ibm.com/technology/news/2006/0620_frozen_chip.html
and they have a video here:
http://www-03.ibm.com/technology/ets/capabilities/multimedia_tour/ 
frozen_chip_wmv.html

This is not a new technology (IBM shipped their 100 millionth SiGe  
chip in around 2002 and if you look at the SONET chipset on an OC48  
or greater interface chances are its SiGe), but the speed in cheap  
material is (Feng & Hafez achieved >600Ghz in indium doped)  -- this  
is primarily just a bragging right though. It requires liquid helium  
temperatures, something that is not practical in the near term, and  
requires a LOT of power to achieve.


On Jun 20, 2006, at 2:05 PM, Chris Adams wrote:

> Once upon a time, Warren Kumari <warren@kumari.net> said:
> > Nope, all this says is that with sufficient cooling you can go
> > faster. What we need is going faster with less cooling.
> Read the article, not the headline.  They got 350GHz at room
> temperature (which is a lot more interesting than 500GHz a few degrees
> above absolute zero).
Yes -- the previous silicon based speed record *at room temp* was  
375Ghz.

Warren

> --
> Chris Adams <cmadams@hiwaay.net>
> Systems and Network Administrator - HiWAAY Internet Services
> I don't speak for anybody but myself - that's enough trouble.
--
"Have you got any previous convictions?"

"Well, I dunno... I suppose I used to believe very firmly that a  
penny saved is a penny earned--"
-- Terry Pratchett