Single-Atom Transistor Is End of Moore's Law; May Be Beginning of Quantum Computing

[TalkingDog]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120219191244.htm

The smallest transistor ever built -- in fact, the smallest transistor that can be built -- has been created using a single phosphorus atom by an international team of researchers at the University of New South Wales, Purdue University and the University of Melbourne.

snip:

Michelle Simmons, group leader and director of the ARC Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication at the University of New South Wales, says the development is less about improving current technology than building future tech.

"This is a beautiful demonstration of controlling matter at the atomic scale to make a real device," Simmons says. "Fifty years ago when the first transistor was developed, no one could have predicted the role that computers would play in our society today. As we transition to atomic-scale devices, we are now entering a new paradigm where quantum mechanics promises a similar technological disruption. It is the promise of this future technology that makes this present development so exciting."

[Jackpine Radical]

1. Shit. I just had one of those phosphorus atoms lying around

but do you think I can find it now that I have a use for it?

[TalkingDog]

4. If you find it, it will literally be in the last place you look.

n/t

[Jackpine Radical]

5. I know. Just like my %$#@*& keys.

[Ikonoklast]

6. Not if Schrodinger's Cat has anything to say about it.

[leeroysphitz]

15. Or not.

[Logical]

2. Neat, but most these type of announcements are years away from being practical

[Jackpine Radical]

7. Of course. Stuff takes a while to develop, but

demonstrating something like that in principle is pretty damn exciting.

[LanternWaste]

9. I'm guessing that's why Ms. Simmons said

I'm guessing that's why Ms. Simmons said, "the development is less about improving current technology than building future tech...."

[Swede]

3. One more step to the singularity.

nt

[Ichingcarpenter]

10. the singularity is real and will happen

I don't think many realize what it really means.

It will be a new species that will rule the earth.

[Swede]

12. Every day it draws near.

Some are very worried. I am one of them,though I worry for the young ones,not for myself.

[wandy]

8. A bit mind bogleing. If only one atom, what servs as the collector, emmitor or base.....

More bogling is what the heck performs the 'switch' action? Forgetting practal things like wire size and the temptures these things currently must run at, how do electrons flow through one of thes critters. Do you kind of bump one electron out by putting another one in? Transistors are 'funkey' enough as it is. Vaccum tubes are much more stright foward.

[wandy]

14. Good Point.

[IDemo]

11. Not sure that it's applicable to Moore's Law until the process is used in manufacturing IC's

That it has been done at the level of a one atom transistor is admirable in itself, but there will likely be a significant amount of time involved in producing chips with densities at the atomic scale, if ever.

In any case, Moore's Law should be more appropriately be called Moore's Rule since it is not based upon any specific physical or arithmetic law. It has been a pretty accurate guidepost for developing technologies, but it's not an absolute given.