IBM Shrinks SRAM Cells, Triples Transistor Performance

**PeanutButterMunky** · 12-07-2004

"Yorktown Heights (NY) - IBM today said that it has built the world's smallest SRAM cell and demonstrated for the first time transistors built with strained germanium that can deliver three times the performance of today's transistors."

Providing an outlook three SRAM generations ahead, IBM said that its memory cell is about ten times smaller than those of common SRAM cells available on the market today, which measure around 1 µm2. IBM's said that the cell also is about half the size of the smallest experimental cell reported to date and cut fit 50,000 of those cells on circular end of a human hair. The company said that it will provide further details about the technology at the upcoming International Electron Devices Meeting in December.

IBM is not alone in the field of shrinking SRAM cells to be able to increase SRAM capacity especially in processors. Texas Instruments announced earlier this year, that it produced a 0.49 µm2 SRAM cell in 65 nm process technology with about 930,000 logic gates per mm2.

IBM on Monday also said that it has demonstrated a technique that triples the performance of a standard transistor used in semiconductors by creating a layer of germanium in the portion of the transistor through which electrical current flows, called the "channel." Germanium has long been known to have better conductivity than silicon, and the strain in the germanium layer created by IBM's process leads to further performance gains, the company said.

The introduction of a new material like germanium in the critical areas of the integrated circuits provides an alternative means of improving chip performance from the traditional method of simply shrinking circuitry, according to IBM. The company hopes that this new technique will help to achieve performance improvements in chips with circuit sizes of 32 nm and smaller.

Source

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**mgs_solidsnake911** · 12-12-2004

what's that ? , but i thinks it's awesome , cowabanga dude

**PeanutButterMunky** · 12-12-2004

Ninja Turtles are the shiz

SRAM is Static Random Access Memory. It's faster than DRAM because it doesn't need to be refreshed all the time in order function at optimum levels. SRAM is much more expensive than DRAM though.

If you look around in your computer somewhere, you're probably find out how much RAM your computer is using. If you don't know what it is, than um...

**mgs_solidsnake911** · 12-13-2004

o i c , it s the ram , i know now , thanks dude , i think we'll never hav that kind of new toys in my town

**PeanutButterMunky** · 12-13-2004

What toys are you talking about? I think you still have no idea what RAM is...

**mgs_solidsnake911** · 12-13-2004

the new *toy* u r talking bout , i dont know much bout this things

**PeanutButterMunky** · 12-13-2004

It's not a toy, man!!

You should know about these things. RAM allows to complete tasks quicker or slower depending on how much you have. You can get 128mb, 256MB, 512MB, 1GB and so on [not that you have a clue what I'm talking about]

Here's a dummied down version of what RAM and various computer words mean:

Click here, it's fun

And even more links:
Link 1
Link 2

*headache*

**mgs_solidsnake911** · 12-13-2004

no , i say , i know what u mean , *ram* ,
i OPEN my pc case, and see wht's the *RAM* inside it ,
oh , finally i realized mine's 256MB, THAT'S easy right ?

*relief*...................... after some hard work

**PeanutButterMunky** · 12-13-2004

Yeah...plus um...check out the links as well...

**mgs_solidsnake911** · 12-13-2004

hey , i'm not a 6 years old , i can find it out myself yo .
do ram help improvin games' speed ?

**PeanutButterMunky** · 12-13-2004

Yes they do, and a great deal. And that's why they're going to use SRAM in next-gen consoles, because it is much faster than current RAM...and blah blah blah...

**mgs_solidsnake911** · 12-13-2004

o i c, i might be findin one now

**Blake** · 12-13-2004

Originally Posted by mgs_solidsnake911

hey , i'm not a 6 years old , i can find it out myself yo .
do ram help improvin games' speed ?

Hmm, odd... You say you can find out yourself yet your fishing for answers anyway. Just read the links.

howstuffworks is a good site to learn about various parts of the computer also.

**mgs_solidsnake911** · 12-13-2004

i mean u dont hav to give me some kinda *dictionay* , ok know what i mean ?

**Blake** · 12-13-2004

Well if you want to learn about something why dont you just go to the links he provided instead of asking a million questions?

**mgs_solidsnake911** · 12-13-2004

i went already ya , and dont coz of me and lock up munky's thread

**PeanutButterMunky** · 12-13-2004

Well that's good to know. I only provided you with access to information, and tried to help you with answers to future questions down the line. There's no reason for getting offensive. It seems every time I post something remotely interesting, it gets flooded with crappola and becomes rather pointless :/

**mgs_solidsnake911** · 12-13-2004

maybe u r too up 2 date

**PeanutButterMunky** · 12-13-2004

I'm not even going to bother talking with you anymore unless you begin thinking before you post, mgs. You're not even giving the slightest bit of effort. I can't help you, man :/ And you can't even see what you're doing and how it just doesn't make sense...

**RPGDreamer** · 07-25-2006

Half-Life developer, Valve, has released a new trailer to their upcoming Half-Life 2: Episode Two game. The short trailer follows the recently released Team Fortress 2 and Portal trailers.

“Armed with new weaponry and vehicles, Dr. Gordon Freeman must race through a countryside riddled with an increasingly fierce Combine threat", Valve said of the new storyline.

EA has confirmed that the game will be shipping with the first Half-Life as well as Team Fortress 2. Although no launch date has been released, Valve has said that it aims to have the game out by the end of this year.

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=66262