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HP research shows 8-fold increase in the number of transistors for programmable chips with less power consumption, meaning big performance boosts. The kicker? Apparently, the size of the transistor doesn’t change and it requires no changes to production manufacturing equipment.

As a result, Moore’s Law looks alive and healthy for the foreseeable future.

The WSJ reports:

Such improvements could bring new capabilities to an array of products, including communications switching systems, wireless networking gear, factory- and building-control systems and broadcasting equipment.

H-P’s approach is unusual because it doesn’t reduce the size of transistors, the conventional approach to increasing speed or data-storage capacity in chips. Each new generation of manufacturing technology for shrinking transistors can take companies several years, and billions of dollars in new production equipment. The pace of improvement is becoming more costly and difficult to maintain as circuitry reaches ever-smaller dimensions.

Assuming H-P’s techniques can be adapted for high-volume manufacturing, companies could improve existing chips without having to wait for factories to upgrade their production equipment.

A scientist at Mitre Corp. appears to like it too:

“That is [saving] five to 10 years [of] work at a stroke,” said James Ellenbogen, an expert in the field who is senior principal scientist of the nanosystems group at Mitre Corp., which manages U.S.-funded research programs. He characterized H-P’s results as “amazing.”

A little more information is here on c|net regarding the approach. A paper is due from the research engineers on 1/24 in Nanotechnology.

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