NEC develops world's smallest transistor

The original experimental transistor was invented at Bell Laboratory in 1947. Japan's computer giant NEC's smallest transistor could lead to the production of a supercomputer the size of a desktop PC. PHOTO: AFP

The newly developed transistor is only 1/18th the size of the most common transistor now in mass production, the Asahi Shimbun said, quoting company sources.

With the new technology, a typical semiconductor chip measuring one square centimeter (0.16 square inches) would be able to hold 40 billion transistors, about 150 times the current number.

The technology would cut the size of huge supercomputers, which are capable of making 600 billion calculations a second, to a similar bulk as ordinary desktop computers, the newspaper said.

NEC researchers are to announce the development at the International Electron Devices Meeting to be held in Washington from Monday.

Production technology still needs to be developed before the transistor can be mass-produced. NEC expects to market the transistor in about 2020, the daily said.