ΣΑΝ ΣΗΜΕΡΑ 26 Νοεμβρίου 2001, η Intelανακοινώνει μία ακόμη καινοτομία στην κατασκευή των ολοκληρωμένων κυκλωμάτων, η οποία μειώνει θεαματικά τις ενεργειακές απαιτήσεις και τις θερμικές απώλειες των chips. Επιπλέον, επιτρέπει την κατακόρυφη αύξηση των ταχυτήτων. Η νέα αρχιτεκτονική ονομάζεται εύγλωττα Intel TeraHertz transistor. Έως σήμερα όμως δεν έχει βρει εφαρμογή σε επεξεργαστές του εμπορίου.

The new architecture of the  TeraHertz transistor  was simultaneously based on a redesign of the classic  CMOS transistors  with the use of new materials, such as  zirconium oxide . The latter is a significantly better insulator than silicon oxide, which was more widely used in chip manufacturing. Its existence was necessary, as the ever-increasing  miniaturization of transistors  led to greater  leakage currents  during the transition to the  off  (0) state. This in turn results in the need to apply  a higher voltage  to it, resulting in increased power and further thermal losses. The  ultra-thin film of zirconium oxide in the TeraHertz transistor is placed inside the silicon substrate, reducing current loss up to  a hundred times . Thus,  Intel was able to further reduce the dimensions of the transistor and use  low-resistance contacts  in the silicon layer. In addition to the beneficial effects on size and thermal loss issues, the TeraHertz transistor design makes it possible to increase – losslessly and at a very low voltage, on the order of  0.6 Volts – the  switching frequency of  the transistor from 0 to 1. Although the use of the expression  TeraHertz  (THz) is theoretical, in practice this means  one trillion  state changes in one second!

The TeraHertz transistor architecture includes changes to the standard CMOS transistor layout, including an additional high-resistance oxide substrate and new contacts.

The TeraHertz transistor may not have gained commercial application, but it led to the development of the concept using other materials, such as  gallium arsenide  and  indium phosphide  . Practical lab-scale applications have achieved real-world frequencies of the order of  850 GHz  (0.85 THz), very close to Intel’s original target. Today, the principles of this architecture are used in  aerospace technology , in grid computing systems  , etc.