Transistor Sets Speed Record

Defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. announced it now holds the Guinness World Record for the fastest transistor. Guinness notified the company that its ultrafast 1-terahertz (THz) transistor set a new world record for transistor speed. The device, announced in 2007, is an indium phosphide-based high electron mobility transistor (InP HEMT) with a maximum operating frequency of more than 1000 GHz, or greater than 1 THz. Tests conducted by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., validated the ultrafast transistor by measuring a three-stage millimeter wave integrated circuit amplifier at 340 GHz with greater than 15-decibel (dB) gain. Recent tests conducted at Northrop Grumman confirmed an 18-dB gain at 340 GHz, the company said. Development of the InP HEMT was supported by DARPA, the US Army Research Laboratory and internal company funds.