Researchers at IBM are building computing devices of the future - but you're less likely to find them focusing on the slimmer, smaller, lighter, sleeker, sexier holiday gift-giving gift ideas. IBM's top computer scientists, physicists and chemists can instead be found improving compute power based on advanced physics discoveries; decreasing the size of transistors while improving performance; and even developing circuit architecture that'll give you better cell phone reception and protect devices against radiation.
Here's a look at what IBMers are contributing to the future of computing:
Racetrack Memory
- Combines the benefits of magnetic hard drives and solid-state memory to outsmart Moore's Law (increased power demands, shrinking devices)
- For the first time, IBM researchers are marrying Racetrack memory with CMOS technology (on which virtually all electronic equipment is built)
- Improves density, potentially allowing massive amounts of info to be accessed in less than 1 billionth of a second
Graphene
- The first ever CMOS-compatible graphene device can advance wireless communications and enable new high-frequency devices operable under adverse temperature and radiation conditions
- Resesarchers have developed a new technique to improve the structure of graphene transistors, proving stability at far higher temperatures than previously achieved
Carbon Nanotubes
Photo Caption: Carbon nanotubes have been used to develop improved solar cell technology, and IBMers have discovered excellent off-state behavior in extremely scaled devices - an energy-saving technique
- IBM researchers demonstrated the first carbon nanotube transistor rated at less than 10 nanometers, which easily outperforms the best competing silicon-based devices
- Nanotechnology discoveries like this point to improved solar cell technology
To read the technical details of IBM's three breakthroughs, check out the
IBM press release. The Wall Street Journal's Don Clark interviewed IBM Fellow and VP of Innovation Bernie Meyerson in
this story.
