Intel falls further behind as ~0nm transistors created

[rcmaehl]

Sources:

KIT

Phys.org

Nanowerk

 

TL;DR

Previously only achievable under near absolute zero and in only liquid, new material usage allows normal temperatures and solid materials to be used paving the way for major changes in the future and the limit of minimization.

 

Quotes/Excerpts:

Quote

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), physicist Professor Thomas Schimmel and his team have developed a single-atom transistor, the smallest transistor in existence... controlled repositioning of a single atom, now also in the solid state. The single-atom transistor works at room temperature and consumes very little energy. The transistor is the central element of digital data processing in computing centers, PCs, smartphones, or in embedded systems for many applications from the washing machine to the airplane. A commercially available low-cost USB memory stick already contains several billion transistors. This quantum electronics element enables switching energies smaller than those of conventional silicon technologies by a factor of 10,000... the transistor that reaches the limits of miniaturization. Contrary to conventional quantum electronics components, the single-atom transistor does not only work at extremely low temperatures near absolute zero, i.e. -273°C, but already at room temperature. This is a big advantage for future applications.  The transistor exclusively consists of metal, no semiconductors are used. This results in extremely low electric voltages and, hence, an extremely low energy consumption.

 

My Thoughts:

Well... we did it. Computer chips will reach as small as they can go unless some sub-atomic transistor is created. Let's just hope Intel can finally get past 14nm. Maybe after 14nm# or 14nm++++.

[pyrojoe34]

Can't wait until we start referring to transistor sizes in angstroms (or picometers)... but to be realistic this tech is still very far away and making something in a lab is very different than scaling it to commercial levels. The scaling issue is probably the biggest hurdle by far and I wouldn't hold your breath for this to appear anytime soon.

[Gealach]

What the fuck

[Trixanity]

Lab results don't count all that much. We have graphene and super batteries in labs all around the world and have had that for a good number of years in one form or another; yet here we are.

[bcredeur97]

so what do we do after this? I mean... smaller is no longer an option at that point

 

are we just forever stuck?

[Ginger_]

3 minutes ago, bcredeur97 said:

so what do we do after this? I mean... smaller is no longer an option at that point

 

are we just forever stuck?

Quantum computers

[Phentos]

4 minutes ago, bcredeur97 said:

so what do we do after this? I mean... smaller is no longer an option at that point

 

are we just forever stuck?

Quantum computing. The potential is pretty much endless for that tech. 

[bcredeur97]

Just now, Ginger_ said:

Quantum computers

but it's been covered that those are more for specific purposes rather than general purpose computing like transistors are

[Phentos]

Just now, bcredeur97 said:

but it's been covered that those are more for specific purposes rather than general purpose computing like transistors are

For now.

[pyrojoe34]

8 minutes ago, bcredeur97 said:

so what do we do after this? I mean... smaller is no longer an option at that point

 

are we just forever stuck?

We have a very long way to go before this is even a thing.. the next step would be applying quantum computations to general computing... something we have no idea how to do yet (if possible) and would require a complete rebuild of every piece of software and traditional computation knowledge we current have. More and more you'll see 1. software and 2. circuit design/specificity being much more important to massive performance increases than just raw transistor power (just look at things like tensor and ray tracing cores where application specific computational power is more than the sum of its parts). Using neuronal-based hardware design is something I think will make a big difference at some point. Being limited to a bit/transistor only containing two states with only a single input and output is a huge limit on how we currently compute problems.

[rcmaehl]

4 minutes ago, VegetableStu said:

.... wat. we're not even counting the width of atoms now? let alone how much mechanical space it actually occupies--

Technically the metal atom is 0.1-0.2nm so if you round it becomes 0nm, I'm sure there'll be an OFFICIAL name for it soon.

[Ginger_]

4 minutes ago, bcredeur97 said:

but it's been covered that those are more for specific purposes rather than general purpose computing like transistors are

And people said the same thing about original vacuum tube computers. Your looking at the start of something and jumping to conclusions about the end

[mynameisjuan]

Dont care until I see it in consumer or enterprise device. 

[Quadrum]

Maybe for the intel 23700k...

or the threadripper 4990wx lol

[Sauron]

As cool as this is, don't expect it in consumer products any time soon. Interference and stability are probably a massive problem with these devices. One thing is having one work in a controlled environment, another is having several billions all packed together.

5 minutes ago, Ginger_ said:

And people said the same thing about original vacuum tube computers. Your looking at the start of something and jumping to conclusions about the end

In case you haven't noticed we don't use vacuum tubes anymore. Transistors are a different technology. Quantum computing is (on a purely theoretical level, which is not limited by implementation) great for some things and... not nearly as great for others. It doesn't matter how many qbits you can cram together or how hot they can get before they become unstable, that fact won't change. If we find another way (aka not qbits) to do the same thing, maybe those limitations won't apply.

[pas008]

17 minutes ago, Ginger_ said:

Quantum computers

 

16 minutes ago, Phentos said:

Quantum computing. The potential is pretty much endless for that tech. 

Intel is already producing quantum cpus

5 per week i guess here

That seems like valuable fab time but what would you prioritize?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.techspot.com/amp/news/75020-intel-now-capable-producing-full-silicon-wafers-quantum.html

[Sauron]

11 minutes ago, rcmaehl said:

Technically the metal atom is 0.1-0.2nm so if you round it becomes 0nm, I'm sure there'll be an OFFICIAL name for it soon.

Might as well use picometres... 0.2nm is 200pm.

[TacoSenpai]

We'll make them so small that we'll create an existential paradox as to whether the silicon even exists or not.

[Sauron]

3 minutes ago, VegetableStu said:

they claim room temperature operation

Sure, when I say controlled environment I mean other factors like low radiation and running in a vacuum (I don't know if either of those were necessary but you get my point).

4 minutes ago, LordOTaco said:

We'll make them so small that we'll create an existential paradox as to whether the silicon even exists or not.

This isn't even silicon according to the article, just a metal. That makes sense, considering semiconductors require multiple atoms to exhibit the properties we use for regular transistors. This technology certainly uses a completely different method to change state.

[Clanscorpia]

The title is extremely misleading honestly. Making a single transistor is much different then putting billions in a chip

[TacoSenpai]

9 minutes ago, Sauron said:

Sure, when I say controlled environment I mean other factors like low radiation and running in a vacuum (I don't know if either of those were necessary but you get my point).

This isn't even silicon according to the article, just a metal. That makes sense, considering semiconductors require multiple atoms to exhibit the properties we use for regular transistors. This technology certainly uses a completely different method to change state.

Atomic transistors...we will make fallout become real

[DildorTheDecent]

Banana for scale?

[HarryNyquist]

6 minutes ago, VegetableStu said:

..but then the issue of proximity still remains (and this might be a seriously electromagnetically sensitive thing)

Oh for sure. At some point you'd also have to take into account quantum tunneling, which could definitely result in bad things when you get into packing these together in molecular-level structures. There's no way this will be applied to consumer electronics well before a "zero" nm process; we're gonna hit a wall soon where tunneling will be a problem.

[HarryNyquist]

1 minute ago, VegetableStu said:

I think their gist is that there's nothing to tunnel because the gap contains nothing, but yeah air-gapped transfer of electrons is probably the equivalent to quantum tunneling (people didn't discover static electricity and transfer of charge for nothing o_o)

 

(but if it's in the goop then maybe it could electrically tunnel through that goop? argh)

There's nothing to tunnel through in their test setup. A general purpose CPU contains, what, several million transistors? There's physical barriers there between the electrical pathways to prevent interference, and make the CPU work. That's what will suffer from tunneling, signals causing interference (via tunneling) in adjacent pathways. Once the barrier is sufficiently thick, tunneling is unnoticeable or nonexistent.

[i_build_nanosuits]

This news has nothing to do with intel so why is intel even in the title?