The End of Transistors In Computers?
Thu Mar 3, 3:33 PM ET Technology - NewsFactor
Pam Baker, www.newsfactor.com
Hewlett Packard (NYSE: HPQ - news) researchers created a computer-world frenzy with the recent announcement of a new invention designed to replace transistors on chips -- the fundamental building block of computers for the last half century. But is the buzz just bluff or the stuff of real scientific advancement?
• HP Proposes Transistor Alternative
• Transparent Transistors May Bring Good Things to Light
• Itanium Gets Boost in Cache Performance
• AMD, IBM Create New Chip Process
• Model Describes Transistor Death
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"HP is a long way off, not in the science, but in terms of the limits of the current business environment. It will take at least ten years for the industry to retool," Yankee Group analyst Andy Efstathiou told NewsFactor.
Re-inventing at Molecular Scale
In a paper published in the Journal of Applied Physics, three members of HP Labs' Quantum Science Research (QSR) group described their invention as a "crossbar latch," which provides the signal restoration and inversion required for general computing without the need for transistors.
The technology could result in computers that are thousands of times more powerful than those that exist today. "We are re-inventing the computer at the molecular scale," says Stan Williams, HP senior fellow and QSR director, and one of the authors of the paper.
"The crossbar latch provides a key element needed for building a computer using nanometer-sized devices that are relatively inexpensive and easy to build," he added.
QSR works on nanoscale electronic devices that will first supplement, and someday perhaps replace, silicon technology, which is expected to reach its physical limits in about a decade. But, such a replacement could devastate chipmakers and turn the entire industry on its ear.
"Any truly new technology requires an entire industry to support it -- an entire new infrastructure -- and retooling takes years. Plus, products have to be adapted to be compatible to a radical change," Manny Vara, manufacturing side spokesperson for Intel, told NewsFactor.
The Race Is On
"Everyone's looking for an answer. No one can make transistors too much smaller and still keep them operable," says Vara.
Certainly, Intel is there for the count. The giant chipmaker currently produces the world's smallest transistor -- about 50 nanometers -- half the size of a flu virus. The Pentium 4 has 150 million transistors.
"Think of a processor as a brain and transistors as brain cells. The more brain cells you have, the smarter the brain," says Vara.
Intel researchers also are experimenting with ways to advance transistor development: using new materials to build better transistors; transforming the common planar, or flat, transistor into a Tri-gate 3-D transistor; and, exploring whether transistors can be built from nano devices like carbon nanotubes and nano wires, says Vara.
"What can be enhanced or added to a silicon chip to increase performance and time-to-market?'" Vara muses.
But HP researchers are taking a different tack.
The crossbar latches use a sequence of voltage impulses to the control lines and arrange switches in opposite polarities. As a result, they can perform the three basic operations that comprise the primary logic of a circuit and are essential for basic computer functions.
The new latch technology could restore a circuit to its ideal voltage. That would let designers chain many simple gates together, allowing them to perform computations.
"These types of advancement are mission-critical to the long-term survival of any player in the industry," says Efstathiou.
Beyond the Finish Line
In addition to exploring the fundamental scientific principles of computing at the molecular level, QSR also is looking at architectural issues and determining how such tiny devices -- thousands of which could fit across the diameter of a human hair -- could be fabricated economically and in mass quantities.
Meanwhile, Intel Israel has spent the last two to three years developing the electro-optic chip at the company's Jerusalem facility to replace the standard electronic chips used for communications between computer components, allowing this communication to be conducted at the speed of light -- 10 times the current speed.
"Today, the fast processors operate at speeds over three gigahertz, but their surroundings still work at speeds of hundreds of megahertz and, therefore, don't succeed in exploiting their speeds," Amir Elstein, the co-CEO of Intel Israel and director of Intel's Jerusalem facility told reporters. "When the chips, the processor and the ports of the computer speak at the same speed, which will be about 10 gigahertz, the computer's capability will be totally different," he added.
"None of these advancements will happen tomorrow -- but when they do, there will be far more progress than we have yet experienced, and it will be highly disruptive technology," says Frost & Sullivan senior strategic analyst Ronald Gruia.
I wonder if we are still working on DNA computing or Quantum State Transistors.
