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Science Technology

Integrated Circuit Amplifier Breaches Terahertz Barrier 81

Posted by Soulskill from the terably-impressive dept.
jenningsthecat writes: DARPA's Terahertz Electronics program has created "the fastest solid-state amplifier integrated circuit ever measured." The Terahertz Monolithic Integrated Circuit (TMIC), boasts a gain of 9dB — previously unheard of for a monolithic device in this frequency range. Plus, the status of "fastest" has been certified by Guinness — seriously! ('Cause you might not trust DARPA, but you gotta trust Guinness — right?).

In related news, DARPA has also created a micro-machined vacuum power amplifier operating at 850 GHz, or 0.85 THz.
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Integrated Circuit Amplifier Breaches Terahertz Barrier More

Integrated Circuit Amplifier Breaches Terahertz Barrier

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  • And there was a great disturbance in the force (Score:5, Funny)

    by TubeSteak ( 669689 ) on Friday October 31, 2014 @04:55PM (#48283199) Journal

    As if millions of audiophiles cried out in terror and were not heard because their amplifiers didn't have 10db of gain at 1.03 terahertz.

  • One day, scientists are going to play the wrong frequency and it is going to re-arrange all our brains.. then.. zombie apocalypse..

    However, that can be circumvented if the scientists at one of those large colliders create the wrong matter that turns us all into zombies and starts a different zombie apocalypse..

    I had a better story.. but it's Halloween.. go out of your house and look at the women that dress sexy. Happy Halloween!

    • One day, scientists are going to play the wrong frequency and it is going to re-arrange all our brains.. then.. zombie apocalypse..

      Or discover the feared Brown Note [wikipedia.org]. (Thank you South Park (and MythBusters) for putting that imagery in my head. Some things cannot be unseen.)

  • Tetrahertz (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward

    From TFA:

    The ten-stage common-source amplifier operates at a speed of one terahertz (10^12 GHz)

    one tretrahertz is not 10^12 Ghz, it is 10^3 Ghz.

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by dumfrac ( 595394 )

      one tretrahertz is not 10^12 Ghz, it is 10^3 Ghz.

      Tretrahertz - the frequency at which trick or treaters visit your house.

  • "the fastest solid-state amplifier integrated circuit ever measured."
    "Researchers under DARPA 's Terahertz Electronics (THz) program have designed and demonstrated a 0.85 Terahertz power amplifier using a micromachined vacuum tube..."

    'Solid-state' was the term invented to differentiate vacuum tube technology from semiconductor (solid-state) technology... Summary is not just wrong, it gets it exactly OPPOSITE this time.

    • Re:Not solid state... (Score:4, Informative)

      by xfade551 ( 2627499 ) on Friday October 31, 2014 @05:27PM (#48283483)
      There are two articles linked. The first article is about a new integrated circuit amp. The second is about a year old and is about a separate vacuum tube amp. The first article mentions that the new IC amp broke the record of the earlier vacuum tube amp. So, for once, the summary is correct.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      'Solid-state' was the term invented to differentiate vacuum tube technology from semiconductor (solid-state) technology... Summary is not just wrong, it gets it exactly OPPOSITE this time.

      Well, the first link was for a transistor amp that goes to THz speeds.

      The second link was for a semiconductor fabbed amp that uses vacuum tube style technology to make it work. It isn't, ,however, at all close to your traditional vacuum tube. First, there's no filament - just applying a differential voltage (10-15V) is eno

  • Correct.

    I'm not saying I trust Guinness. But anybody who actually trusts the U.S. government -- especially in its current state -- needs to have their head examined.

    Government is not something to "trust". It is something to watch over, with a constantly suspicious eye. Government is not your savior, it is a necessary evil, as our founders made abundantly clear.

    • I generally trust Guinness and their beers, but their new American Lager gives me pause.

    • I know it! I can't stand those evil food stamps going to hungry children...psh..government!

    • You make a good point, but it would be an error to accept your general argument in all cases. There are situations where government intervention is the best tool to solve a problem, but many people are so strong in defaulting to the 'more government is bad' position that they are unable to admit when these situations arise.

      • but many people are so strong in defaulting to the 'more government is bad' position that they are unable to admit when these situations arise

        But you and the other responder above seem to have misunderstood me. I didn't say government was always bad. I just said it has to be watched (like a hawk). "Necessary evil" doesn't mean it's always evil... it means something you'd generally rather do without but probably can't.

        My point was that even when it's doing things we might all agree are good, it has to be watched to make sure it's doing it right and efficiently, not doing it improperly or corruptly, or overstepping its bounds (all things the Oba

  • These only go to 9 (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    I'll wait for the ones that go to 11

  • So, does a vacuum power amplifier make things suck more?

    • No, this is about a valve amplifier, not a hoover amplifier.

      (which reminds me: Happy Guy Fawkes Day in advance to our British friends here)

  • What frequency does a LED put out? At least 430 THz, no?

  • Barrier? I think the word you're looking for is "threshold" or even "mark."

    It's not a barrier unless there's some property that allows you to hit 999GHz but not 1THz, which in turn requires extraordinary effort to surmount.

    Just because you have achieved something new does not mean you have broken a barrier. At best you have broken the English language..

    • You break the brag-barrier. Those round numbers aren't especially important in mathematics or engineering, but human cultures today use base ten, so they are important psychologically. That's why the 99-cents/pence on store prices works.

  • ...now TSA can get even higher resolution images of our junk.

  • DARPA is an organization that provides grants to researchers. It does not do the work.

    The work was performed by engineers at Northrup Grumman. This work was funded by DARPA.

  • Cable TV applications (Score:3)

    by Eravnrekaree ( 467752 ) on Friday October 31, 2014 @07:49PM (#48284581)

    Does this mean that RF cable television systems will be able to expand their bandwidth?

  • We use stuff like this (Score:4, Interesting)

    by NixieBunny ( 859050 ) on Friday October 31, 2014 @10:36PM (#48285293) Homepage
    I work in submillimeter wave astronomy, where we would be happy to have a terahertz preamplifier for our receivers. We currently use miers mixer that work at that frequency, but the mixer has to be made with superconducting waveguide to have good performance. There are about five places in the world that know how to make that sort of chip.

  • What will they call these?

  • This one goes to 11.

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