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Intel plans to unfurl a prototype transistor this week that could help Moore's Law--and the semiconductor industry as a whole--continue to advance in the next decade.

The transistor, designed by Intel and Britain's Qinetiq, is similar in structure to a traditional transistor in that it comes with a source (the place where electrons start) and a drain (their final destination) connected by a channel. A gate controls the flow of electrons across the channel; acutely controlling this flow from the source and drain determines the 1s and 0s of computing.

But, unlike in traditional transistors, the channel isn't made from silicon. Instead, it consists of indium antimonide, a compound made from the elements indium (In) and anitmony (Sb). In chemical terms, the two elements are known as III-V elements because of the row where they appear on the Periodic Table of the Elements. Silicon--Si--appears in column IV. The proximity means that indium and antimony share similar characteristics with silicon, but still behave differently.

Intel says that replacing silicon with indium antimonide cuts power consumption by 10 times while boosting performance by 50 percent.

Just as important, III-V materials can potentially be grafted onto established manufacturing processes. This could make transistors easier and more economical to adopt for mass manufacturing than concepts like carbon nanotube transistors and silicon nanowires.
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Read More / Source: News.com