The fastest microchip

The clock frequencies of today's PC processors are starting to close in on 4GHz (again) and with extreme cooling they can be pushed to beyond 6GHz, which is enough to make some loose their breath. This isn't much though when you consider the research presented at MIT. Scientists at the renowned American university has designed a microchip that can process data at unsurpassed speeds. They claim that its new chipset will be able to operate at unimaginable 500-1000GHz, in other words at Terahertz levels.

The substance used is carbon and it is the very key to the high frequencies. The researchers managed to build a circuit using the graphene, made from a single layer of carbon. The circuit consisting of only one lonely transistor will be used for frequency multiplication and by creating a pure signal with no need for filtration it will be able to achieve these frequencies without problems.

Researchers have been investigating the potential of graphene since the "discovery" in 2004 and the unveiled use that could actually reach the market relatively soon.

It all comes down to making graphene compatible with wafer manufacturing and Tom Palacios, professor at MIT, believes that we will see graphene-based chips in 1-2 years.