IBM Scientists Find New Way to Shrink Transistors

[aaronvan]

...a team at the company’s Thomas J. Watson Research Center said it has found a new way to make transistors from parallel rows of carbon nanotubes.

The advance would make it possible, probably sometime after the beginning of the next decade, to shrink the contact point between the two materials to just 40 atoms in width, the researchers said. Three years later, the number will shrink to just 28 atoms, they predicted.

The ability to reduce electrical resistance will not only make it possible to extend the process of shrinking transistors beyond long-held beliefs about physical limits.

 

[localoid]

From what I've read in years past, I've gotten the impression that mass production of carbon nanotube field-effect transistors has been a major obstacle, so I wondering if now the challenge of (cheap) production has been overcome? (The article doesn't seem to address the issue...)

IBM has been working on the technology for a while. For example, back in 2001, IBM researchers built the world's first array of transistors out of carbon nanotubes.

Quote from IBM's 2001 press release below:

This achievement is an important step in finding new materials and processes for improving computer chips after silicon-based chips cannot be made any smaller -- a problem chip makers are expected to face in about 10-20 years.

 

[satcomer]

Like most everything I tend to take announcements with a grain if salt until I see actual products products shipping to customers!

 

[macs4nw]

Like most everything I tend to take announcements with a grain if salt until I see actual products products shipping to customers!

True enough. Various scientists have been working on single molecule and even single atom transistors for years now, but working consumer implementations are likely still many years away. Their future use in quantum computing is a very exciting prospect nevertheless.

 

[satcomer]

True enough. Various scientists have been working on single molecule and even single atom transistors for years now, but working consumer implementations are likely still many years away. Their future use in quantum computing is a very exciting prospect nevertheless.

I get the feeling many "scientists" traditional money might have been drying up lately. So unless they promote their own experiments to get funding for them!

You had the Baby Boomers getting burned by flying cars, Gen X burned by keynesian theory and Millennials burned by solar roadways!

 

[localoid]

True enough. Various scientists have been working on single molecule and even single atom transistors for years now, but working consumer implementations are likely still many years away. Their future use in quantum computing is a very exciting prospect nevertheless.

One of the bigger challenges in building a practical "consumer" single atom transistor has been finding a way around its cooling requirements, of around minus 196 Celsius, a requirement that typically adds several thousands of pounds worth of cooling equipment per system.

So you probably won't be carrying around a quantum computer on your wrist or in your pocket, or have one sitting on a desk in your home during your lifetime. But then, if the mobile/personal "consumer" computers you do use could become much, much more stronger/faster/smarter simply from being able to connect to quantum computer systems operating in the cloud, e.g., the "Quantum Internet," why would Joe/Jane Average Consumer need to make room for a liquid nitrogen cooled 10,000 pound quantum computer in his/her home?