With technology burgeoning in leaps and bounds, the size and performance of silicon-based transistors will reach its limit, within 15 years — U.S. engineers predict. Scientists are drawing all these confidence by working on new materials and technologies capable of going beyond the limits of silicon.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor Jesus del Alamo and his students are investigating on one such material — indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs). Compared to silicon, electrons travel many times faster in this material!
InGaAs can help make very small transistors capable of switching and processing information very quickly. Del Alamo with his team has recently fabricated InGaAs transistors, which can carry 2.5 times more current in comparison to the state-of-the-art silicon devices!
