Computers are being built smaller and more powerful, but they require a great deal of energy to operate. Experts have said that the total amount of energy the US dedicates to computing has risen over the last decade and it is quickly approaching that of other major sectors, such as transport.
But engineers at the University of California (UC), Berkeley, have reported a breakthrough in the design of a component of transistors – the tiny electrical switches that form the building blocks of computers – that could significantly reduce their energy consumption without sacrificing speed, size, or performance.
According to the researchers, the component called the gate oxide, “plays a key role” in switching the transistor on and off.
“We have been able to show that our gate-oxide technology is better than commercially available transistors,” said Sayeef Salahuddin, professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences at the university. “What the trillion...