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Article: NEW COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY ANNOUNCED
- Article from:
- The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)
- Article date:
- December 15, 1988
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1988 The Boston Globe. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Texas Instruments Inc. announced yesterday that it has
developed a new species of semiconductor device that promises to be
1,000 times faster than conventional transistors and contains
components that are 100 times smaller.
Known as the quantum effect transistor, the device uses
quantum-mechanical effects, an area of physics where subatomic
particles behave like waves and pass through what were once
impenetrable barriers. This is radically different from today's
40-year-old transistor technology.
"Practical applications are about a decade away" said George
Heilmeier, senior vice president at Texas Instruments and the
firm's chief technical officer. "But one day we might see a laptop ...