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Could the Silicon Chip Max Out?

The transistor revolutionized the world, but it's starting to show its age

By Jim O'Neill,  Newser User

Posted Dec 16, 2007 10:23 AM CST
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(Newser) – It’s been 60 years since three Bell Lab scientists invented the transistor, launching an electronics revolution that changed the way we live. Engineers have miniaturized the powerful on-off switches—eventually integrated onto silicon chips—about as far as they can. Now, companies are pouring billions of dollars into research aimed at finding other ways to speed up the devices, reports the AP.

"The pace of change is accelerating because we’re approaching a number of physical limits at the same time,” says Intel's CEO. That's led to a focus on making changes to the code used to run a transistor—(software based on quantum rules is one big push), to experiments with using more exotic substances as insulators, and to using light pulses instead of electricity to move data around the chip surface.

A small device shown in this March 30, 2007 photo, taken in Columbus, Ohio, contains computer chips that allows fans to monitor a runner on a race day Web site, get updates by cell phone text message or wait for e-mails to arrive. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)
A small device shown in this March 30, 2007 photo, taken in Columbus, Ohio, contains computer chips that allows fans to monitor a runner on a race day Web site, get updates by cell phone text message...   (Associated Press)
This undated photo provided by IBM Corp. shows a scientist holding a thinned wafer of silicon computer circuits ready for bonding to another circuit wafer using IBM's new process for stacking chips three-dimensionally.
This undated photo provided by IBM Corp. shows a scientist holding a thinned wafer of silicon computer circuits ready for bonding to another circuit wafer using IBM's new process for stacking chips three-dimensionally....   (Associated Press)
The updated iMac computer takes advantage of powerful %u2014 and tiny %u2014 chips, making it possible to fit the entire computer inside the frame of the screen.
The updated iMac computer takes advantage of powerful %u2014 and tiny %u2014 chips, making it possible to fit the entire computer inside the frame of the screen.   (Associated Press)
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Recent breakthroughs in optical switching
Associated Press

Growing tiny chips
Technology News Daily

 
Intel • microprocessors • transistor • silicon chip • Moore's Law • Gordon Moore • integrated circuits • Robert Noyce • Jack Kilby

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