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© 2011, 2012 Health Futures Digest
| A new way of squeezing more circuitry onto silicon wafers will keep Moore’s Law alive for a few more years, by which time, quantum chips could be ready to take the Law to a whole new level: A quantum chip made in Michigan has brought the Holy Grail of quantum computing a step closer.
Another batty idea — hydrogen fuel cells for laptops — will be on the market early next year. They are sure to take off, literally; because starting in January passengers will be allowed to carry them on airplanes. |
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| Break for Moore’s Law
A modification of the lithography process used to carve microprocessors into silicon will enable IBM to create circuit features 29.9 nanometers wide, compared to the 65- and 90-nanometer-wide features of today’s mass-produced chips. This will double or maybe triple chip speed, though IBM may still be years away from employing the technology in mass production. Intel announced a 45-nanometer “test chip” in January, and says it is looking at different options for technology smaller than 45 nanometers. University of Michigan scientists have created a quantum microchip about the size of a postage stamp, made of gallium arsenide. It contains an ion trap, to isolate individual charged atoms. The “spin” of the trapped ion’s free electron can then be manipulated with an electrical field and laser light, and used to represent binary (e.g., up-spin = 1 or on, down-spin = 0 or off) or qubit (the spin is both up and down, so = 0 and 1, on and off, simultaneously.) The ability of the qubit to occupy two quantum states at once means that it can execute computations at an exponentially faster rate. Each time a qubit is added to a quantum system, its computing power doubles. The new chip could be mass-produced using existing microlithography processes, and its size can be scaled. The goal is a chip that can entrap 10 ions at a time. Methanol-based hydrogen fuel cells to power laptops for up to nine hours will be on the market by early next year. The fuel cells, made in Taiwan, can be recharged by topping them up with methanol from a cartridge. They will work in tandem with the lithium ion batteries in existing laptops and will fit into the CD/DVD drive bay. Starting in January 2007, airlines may permit passengers to carry methanol on board airplanes. |
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