Wednesday November 19, 12:13 pm Eastern Time
Company Press Release
Bell Labs Researchers Build World's Smallest Practical Transistor
Paving Way for More Powerful Integrated Circuits
MURRAY HILL, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 19, 1997--Researchers at Bell Laboratories, the research and
development arm of Lucent Technologies, have fabricated the world's smallest practical transistor that is four times smaller,
five times faster and draws 60 to 160 times less power than today's transistors.
While Bell Labs and others have built extremely small transistors before, no one has built a transistor this small with all the
components scaled to deliver the kind of performance needed for a practical microchip, the company said. The
achievement paves the way for powerful new integrated circuits that pack many billions of transistors on a single silicon
chip, as opposed to the millions on today's chips.
''As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of inventing the transistor at Bell Labs, we are ushering in the age of
'nanoelectronics' by developing the technology to produce future generations of microchips,'' said Mark Pinto, chief
technical officer of Lucent Technologies' Microelectronics Group. In microelectronics, chip features are measured in
microns, or millionths of a meter; in nanoelectronics, chip features will be measured in nanometers, or billionths of a meter.
The experimental ''nanotransistor'' exceeds today's transistors in such key measures as how much current flows through a
transistor and much a transistor boosts a signal. Future chips based on this technology would consume far less energy, a
boon for users of portable communications and computing devices.
''This new technology could go a long way toward satisfying consumers' demands for longer battery life, less weight, and
additional capabilities in wireless telephones and portable computers,'' said Pinto. ''Cutting power demand could lead to
portable multimedia terminals that run for weeks on a single battery and include features such as automated adaptability to
wireless standards around the world.''
The technology could prove especially attractive in digital signal processors, a class of chips used in cellular phones and
other communications devices. Lucent Technologies is one of the world's leading producers of digital signal processors.
Pinto noted that the work on these nanotransistors was possible because of Bell Labs' expertise in several leading-edge
research fields, such as electron-beam lithography, materials science and precision etching.
''The nanotransistor puts us way in front of the industry curve,'' said Pinto. ''It is what the semiconductor industry predicts
will become state-of-the-art 12 years from now.''
Bell Labs scientist and project team leader Greg Timp will describe the achievement on Dec. 8 at the International Electron
Devices Meeting (IEDM), a leading venue for reporting microelectronic device developments. IEDM is being held in
Washington, D.C., at the Washington Hilton Hotel.
Lucent Technologies, headquartered in Murray Hill, N.J., designs, builds and delivers a wide range of public and private
networks, communications systems and software, data networking systems, business telephone systems and
microelectronic components. Bell Labs is the research and development arm for the company. For more information on
Lucent Technologies, visit our web site at lucent.com.
Note to electronics trade magazine editors: Further technical information and photographs will be available on Lucent's web
site, by going to lucent.com, then clicking on this news release headline and following the hot links.
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