Samsung may innovate chip-making process

Samsung may innovate chip-making process

By Kim Yoo-chul Samsung Electronics said Friday that it has developed and patented methods to use graphene in field-effect transistors (FETs) that may revolutionize computers. The breakthrough has been published in the online edition of Science Magazine and nine patents have been secured. Samsung said in a statement that devices with FETs could be used to give computers 100 times the computing power of conventional silicon chips. The company named the device a ``barristor.’’ ``The development means Samsung is speeding up efforts to develop future chip-making technology. We are positively able to leapfrog to next-generation technology ahead of any other firm,’’ said Park Seung-joon, a senior researcher at the company’s advanced institute of technology in a media briefing at its headquarters in downtown Seoul. Graphene is considered one of the strongest materials ever-measured, an improvement upon and a replacement for silicon, and is a highly conductive material, experts said. Much has already been made of graphene’s potential. It can be used for anything from composite materials such as carbon-fibers to electronics. ``The timing of commercialization of the device will be earlier than expected as the development is a minor upgrade from current chip-making technology,’’ said Samsung. Billions of transistors inside a memory chip uses silicon as the main material and that’s why thinner is better in chip-making technology. For example, a memory chip using 20-nanometer level technology is far better than a chip with 30-nano technology in terms of power consumption and cost. Samsung is the world’s first to mass-produce high-end and advanced chips using 20-nanometer level technology. But there are predictions that it could effectively handle even a thinner chip-making technology below 10-nanometers. Scientists and chip experts are also saying that finding a replacement for silicon is still a long way off as devices with graphene have only ever been demonstrated on a ``very small scale.’’ ``The goal for Samsung Electronics is to replace silicon eventually, meanwhile it has to find effective applications that can reap more advantages based on existing materials,’’ said Park.