The future of Silicon

[evehits]

Hi
we all heard about the max speed limit of digital electronics and µP design and how Intel stucked at about 4GHz max speed
my question is that can we build transistor from other materials than silicon
or is it possible to use like optical devices to teleport charges from place to another without delay or propogation time ....imagine that!!
I think transistors are becoming outdated

Cheers,
Eve

 

[wwfeda]

Other types of semiconductors other than silicon have been used for a long time. Some was manufactured even before silicon.

Reason why silicon was popular is because it is easily available and it's oxide is a good stable non-conducting material.

Do search on Germanium (Ge), and Gallium arsenide (GaAs)

 

[electronics_kumar]

moreover,IC Fabrication by using SI is very easy when compared to remaining available elements...also it is having less leakage current than others....also easy availability in the from of SiO2

 

[nvd]

I have heard that they are planning to use carbon.