Racing towards the First NanoComputer: the Quantum Clock is Ticking Away
26 January 2007Computer manufacturers seems to be hurtling towards realizing one of the great dreams of Nanotechnology, the creation of the first Nanocomputer. Such a computer, by definition, would use atoms and molecules instead of silicon chips to transmit information. In order to understand how this would work, you have to understand that a computer, at its essence, is little more than a series of switches in an ‘on’ and ‘off’ state. Each switch occupies a position that represents an exponential number. Through a combination of ‘on’ or ‘off’ states, large numbers can be represented. Atoms, of course, cannot be ‘on’ or ‘off’—but they can occupy different positions in space, and this property can be leveraged to duplicate the same switching mechanism in a silicon-based computer. When that day arrives, the Nanocomputer, one that functions solely in the Quantum world, will be here.Before then, however, the computer industry will take incremental steps towards migrating over to this new technology. This will mean using hybrid technology, combining the Nanotechnology with existing silicon-based circuits, to increase the operating capacity and efficiency of computers. Moore’s Law, which states that technology would double every 18 months, would be turned on its head as the advances of Nanotechnology accelerate the pace of technological progress beyond the rate that Gordon Moore predicted.
The industry has shown that it is taking those incremental steps already. Some of the notable achievements include a technique by an IBM research team that claims they were able to transform iron and platinum into a Nanoparticle that can hold a magnetic charge for up to 10 years, making today’s flash drives obsolete. Other research teams, such as Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, developed their own circuits utilizing Nanotubes as Field Effect Transistors.
Recently, however, the boldest of announcements was made by Intel President and CEO Paul Otellini. He claimed the company was developing a chipset based on 45 nanometer silicon technology, and processors based on this technology would ship in the second half of 2007. At this breakneck pace, the full-fledged Quantum computer will be only a few years away. Read the article here.
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