Scientists design a molecular insulator that may make computer chips smaller…
WASHINGTON, June 6 (Xinhua) — An international research team comprising scientists from Denmark, China and America developed the first insulating molecule more effectively than a vacuum barrier, making transistors in a computer chip potentially smaller and more powerful.They reported in a study published on Wednesday in the journal Nature their design of an extremely rigid silicon-based molecule under one nanometer in length that can block tunneling conduction at the nanoscale.The phenomenon called “quantum mechanical tunneling” is the major challenge when the gap between two metal electrodes narrows to the point that electrons are no longer contained by their barriers, causing leakage current. It is a hurdle standing in the way of making transistors smaller, according to the researchers.
We already can exceed 100 million transistors per square millimeter. We will go farther and one day we will exceed our known limitations…
Intel said that it can now pack more than 100 million transistors in each square millimeter of chip
Source: Intel Now Packs 100 Million Transistors in Each Square Millimeter – IEEE Spectrum
One day we will exceed the capacity of our brains in storage abilities and then we will have created the next level of life and intelligence….I wait for the day that we discover that there are smaller limitations than we physically are able to understand. Limitations that make atom sizes seem like mountains and oceans in comparisons…
I feel that there is no limit to how small is small, just limits on our abilities as we perceive things….I have always thought that atoms are made up of something else, just as our universe is an atom in size to something else…
WtR