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something which cost many weeks of horded pocket money. The thought of a billion transistors being compressed into a square inch would have seemed inconceivable at the time. Not so today, though.<\/p>\nAs a schoolboy, having exhausted my enthusiasm for winding my own tuner coils for home-built crystal set radios, I embarked on my first transistor radio employing one red spot transistor \u2013 something which cost many weeks of horded pocket money. The thought of a billion transistors being compressed into a square inch would have seemed inconceivable at the time. Not so today, though.<\/p>\n
Intel has now designed a new processor chip where transistors are smaller and use less power because of their fin shape.<\/p>\n
From here<\/a>:<\/p>\n Intel has unveiled its next generation of microprocessor technology, code named Ivy Bridge.<\/p>\n The upcoming chips will be the first to use a 22 nanometre manufacturing process, which packs transistors more densely than the current 32nm system.<\/p>\n Intel said it would also be using new Tri-Gate “3D” transistors, which are less power hungry.<\/p>\n Rival chip manufacturers including AMD and IBM are understood to be planning similar designs.<\/p>\n The announcement marks a significant step forward in the commercial processor industry, which is constantly striving to build more transistors onto silicon chips.<\/p>\n One of the main measures of its progress is the length of the transistor “gate”, measured in nanometres (1nm = 1 billionth of a meter).<\/p>\n A human hair is around 60,000 nm wide. Current best microchip technology features a 32nm gate.<\/p>\n It has been known for a long time that 22nm technology would form the next stage in the evolution of microprocessors.<\/p>\n However, the exact nature of Intel’s offering has been a closely guarded secret, until now.<\/p>\n The company expects to begin commercial production later this year.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As a schoolboy, having exhausted my enthusiasm for winding my own tuner coils for home-built crystal set radios, I embarked on my first transistor radio employing one red spot transistor \u2013 something which cost many weeks of horded pocket money. … Continue reading