Thursday, April 10, 2008
Qubits - Quantum Bits Could Herald Death of the Silicon Chip
The reign of the silicon chip is over, according to physicists who predict that the conventional silicon chip has no longer than four years left to run. Meeting at the Institute of Physics’ Condensed Matter and Material Physics conference this week, researchers speculate that the silicon chip will be unable to sustain the same pace of increase in computing power and speed as it has in previous years
Just as Gordon Moore predicted in 2005, physical limitations of the miniaturised electronic devices of today will eventually lead to silicon chips that are saturated with transistors and incapable of holding any more digital information. Scientists are now investigating alternative components that may pave the way to faster, more powerful computers of the future and potentially extend Moore’s Law of technological advancement
One team of researchers at the Leeds University in the UK have proposed to replace silicon chips with carbon nanotubes. In a development that is expected to bring carbon nanotubes one step closer to commercial use, the Leeds University researchers have developed a technique of growing nanotubes on a perforated ceramic grid. The technique allows the research team to determine the electrical properties of individual nanotubes, after which the tubes are accurately positioned on a surface using a tweezer-like device
By linking the electric current in a loop to a quantum superposition state, superconductors may act as quantum bits, or qubits, in quantum computing. Qubits are able to exist in multiple states at any one time, which massively increases the amount of information that can be encoded in a quantum computer’s memory.
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Just as Gordon Moore predicted in 2005, physical limitations of the miniaturised electronic devices of today will eventually lead to silicon chips that are saturated with transistors and incapable of holding any more digital information. Scientists are now investigating alternative components that may pave the way to faster, more powerful computers of the future and potentially extend Moore’s Law of technological advancement
One team of researchers at the Leeds University in the UK have proposed to replace silicon chips with carbon nanotubes. In a development that is expected to bring carbon nanotubes one step closer to commercial use, the Leeds University researchers have developed a technique of growing nanotubes on a perforated ceramic grid. The technique allows the research team to determine the electrical properties of individual nanotubes, after which the tubes are accurately positioned on a surface using a tweezer-like device
By linking the electric current in a loop to a quantum superposition state, superconductors may act as quantum bits, or qubits, in quantum computing. Qubits are able to exist in multiple states at any one time, which massively increases the amount of information that can be encoded in a quantum computer’s memory.
More from here
Labels: Computer-Science
PermaLink - Qubits - Quantum Bits Could Herald Death of the Silicon Chip posted by Ecacofonix : 12:15 AM
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