Monday, 10 December 2007

3D Transistor Technology to be Developed in Singapore

Singapore has been chosen as the test bed to do research and development for a three-dimensional transistor that promises to deliver a significant increase in computing power. A collaborative agreement between Unisantis Electronics and the Institute of...

Singapore has been chosen as the test bed to do research and development for a three-dimensional transistor that promises to deliver a significant increase in computing power.

A collaborative agreement between Unisantis Electronics and the Institute of Microelectronics (IME), the Surrounding Gate Transistor (SGT) device has been dubbed as “the world’s first three-dimensional transistor” and will be based on a prototype produced by renowned scientist Professor Masuoka some 20 years ago.

Speaking to journalists at the launch of the joint venture this week, Prof Masuoka explained that the SGT is made up of a vertical silicon pillar surrounded by memory cells, electrical contacts and other components. This methodology—which has been described as extremely challenging and requiring the development of many new processes-- has the capability to reduce significantly, the distance that electrons-- which transmit information-bearing electrical signals--must travel within the SGT.

Next-generation IC chips fabricated with the SGT can be up to 10 times faster than existing chips built using conventional, two-dimensional transistors with horizontally-arranged components.

Although the prototype was conceived 20 years ago, Professor Masuoka said that at that time there were insufficient resources and demand to support the SGT’s development. However, he says the time is ripe now as such improvements are necessary for new-generations IC chips to meet the computing power demanded by IT products and computing networks of ever-increasing functionality and complexity.

The SGT is said to address one of the major issues facing manufacturers of conventional transistors today which is power consumption. High Performance Computing systems in use now consume a lot of power which severely limits their utility in practical environments and the SGT has the capability to lower power consumption considerably.

The multi-million dollar agreement, which will be in place for 24 months effective immediately, will see Professor Masuoka lead a team of 30 comprising of academics, engineers and scientists from Singapore, China, Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan.

IME will provide support via its expertise in silicon nanoelectronics research and complementary metal oxide semiconductor procession and all its laboratory facilities.

Mounir Barakat, CEO of Unisantis told SDA Asia that although the agreement has been set for 24 months right now, there is always a chance that this timeline may be altered accordingly should more than expected work crop up, which according to him is common in many research and development initiatives.

He went on to elaborate that once the SGT crosses the first stage and is tested to see how well it performs, the next stage will involve incorporating the SGT prototype to IC chips and eventually taking it to mass production.

In response as to why Singapore was chosen as the base for this program, Barakat said in a prepared statement, “Singapore offers tremendous advantages by way of its established R&D culture and pro-investment business climate.

“This collaboration allows Unisantis to take the development of the SGT to the next level by leveraging on IME’s expertise and facilities to develop and fabricate the device.”

Barakat estimates that the three-dimensional concept will be of much interest to developers in the next 5 to 10 years and strongly believes that the SGT will be ready to meet this demand then.