The quantum-effect device: Tomorrow's transistors

Bate, R T

doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0388-96

Title: The quantum-effect device: Tomorrow's transistors

Full Record
Other Related Research

Abstract

There are limits on the size and number of circuit elements that can be packed on a computer chip. One is the wave behavior of electrons, which can interfere with performance in the smallest of devices. Physicists are not turning that behavior to their advantage in a new kind of component that depends on electron waves for its operation. With the so called quantum semiconductor device, it will be possible to put the circuitry of a supercomputer on a single chip. The structures for quantum devices have already been made using the same materials as today's chips. Because they can be about 100 times smaller than the devices in present-day integrated circuits, designing and fabricating a viable device presents a formidable challenge. Manufacturing processes will have to become considerably more sophisticated, and new strategies for interconnection and architecture will have to be devised to cope with the special problems of size reduction. 5 figs.

Authors:: Bate, R T

Publication Date:: Tue Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 1988

OSTI Identifier:: 6973372

Resource Type:: Journal Article

Journal Name:: Scientific American; (USA)

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 258:3; Journal ID: ISSN 0036-8733

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 42 ENGINEERING; 99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS//MATHEMATICS, COMPUTING, AND INFORMATION SCIENCE; SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT; ALUMINIUM ARSENIDES; DOPED MATERIALS; ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT; ELECTRONS; FABRICATION; GALLIUM ARSENIDES; INTEGRATED CIRCUITS; MICROELECTRONIC CIRCUITS; QUANTIZATION; QUANTUM MECHANICS; RESONANCE; SILICON; SIZE; SUPERCOMPUTERS; TRANSISTORS; ALUMINIUM COMPOUNDS; ARSENIC COMPOUNDS; ARSENIDES; COMPUTERS; DIGITAL COMPUTERS; ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS; ELEMENTARY PARTICLES; ELEMENTS; EQUIPMENT; FERMIONS; GALLIUM COMPOUNDS; LEPTONS; MATERIALS; MECHANICS; PNICTIDES; SEMIMETALS; 426000* - Engineering- Components, Electron Devices & Circuits- (1990-); 990200 - Mathematics & Computers

Citation Formats


                    Bate, R T. The quantum-effect device: Tomorrow's transistors.  United States: N. p., 1988. 
        Web.  doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0388-96.

Copy to clipboard


                    Bate, R T. The quantum-effect device: Tomorrow's transistors.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1038/scientificamerican0388-96

Copy to clipboard


                    Bate, R T. 1988.  
        "The quantum-effect device: Tomorrow's transistors".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1038/scientificamerican0388-96.

Copy to clipboard


                    
@article{osti_6973372,

  title        = {The quantum-effect device: Tomorrow's transistors},

  author       = {Bate, R T},

  abstractNote = {There are limits on the size and number of circuit elements that can be packed on a computer chip. One is the wave behavior of electrons, which can interfere with performance in the smallest of devices. Physicists are not turning that behavior to their advantage in a new kind of component that depends on electron waves for its operation. With the so called quantum semiconductor device, it will be possible to put the circuitry of a supercomputer on a single chip. The structures for quantum devices have already been made using the same materials as today's chips. Because they can be about 100 times smaller than the devices in present-day integrated circuits, designing and fabricating a viable device presents a formidable challenge. Manufacturing processes will have to become considerably more sophisticated, and new strategies for interconnection and architecture will have to be devised to cope with the special problems of size reduction. 5 figs.},

  doi          = {10.1038/scientificamerican0388-96},

  url          = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/6973372},
  journal      = {Scientific American; (USA)},

  issn         = {0036-8733},

  number       = ,

  volume       = 258:3,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Tue Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 1988},

  month        = {Tue Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 1988}

}

Copy to clipboard

Journal Article:

https://doi.org/10.1038/scientificamerican0388-96

Other availability

Find in Google Scholar

Search WorldCat to find libraries that may hold this journal

Save / Share:

Export Metadata

Save to My Library

Similar records in OSTI.GOV collections:

Supercooling comes to the forefront

Journal Article Lyman, J - Electronics; (United States)

More than ever, the design of supercomputers turns on devising a way to cool the superfast machines. It's still important to select a high-density high-speed IC package, design a controlled-impedance, state-of-the-art, multilayer printed-circuit board, and figure out how to interconnect all circuitry with a minimum of propagation delay, reflections, and crosscoupling. But tomorrow's systems could dissipate as much as 100 kW, and so cooling is even more critical than in today's supercomputer designs. Not suprisingly, the leading supercomputer maker, Cray, is also a leading innovator in supercomputer packaging. The company's first units, the Cray-1 and X-MP, are based on relativelymore »« less
Indium Growth and Island Height Control on Si Submonolayer Phases

Thesis/Dissertation Chen, Jizhou

Nanotechnology refers any technique that involves about object with nanoscale (10^-9 m) or even smaller. It has become more and more important in recently years and has changed our world dramatically. Most of modern electronic devices today should thanks to the miniaturizing driven by development of nanotechnology. Recent years, more and more governments are investing huge amount of money in research related to nanotechnology. There are two major reasons that nanostructure is so fascinate. The first one is the miniaturizing. It is obvious that if we can make products smaller without losing the features, we can save the cost andmore »« less
https://doi.org/10.2172/972074

Full Text Available
Challenges at the Frontiers of Matter and Energy: Transformative Opportunities for Discovery Science

Program Document Hemminger, John; Sarrao, John; Crabtree, George; ...

FIVE TRANSFORMATIVE OPPORTUNITIES FOR DISCOVERY SCIENCE As a result of this effort, it has become clear that the progress made to date on the five Grand Challenges has created a springboard for seizing five new Transformative Opportunities that have the potential to further transform key technologies involving matter and energy. These five new Transformative Opportunities and the evidence supporting them are discussed in this new report, “Challenges at the Frontiers of Matter and Energy: Transformative Opportunities for Discovery Science.” Mastering Hierarchical Architectures and Beyond-Equilibrium Matter Complex materials and chemical processes transmute matter and energy, for example from CO2 and watermore »« less
https://doi.org/10.2172/1283188

Full Text Available
Impact of geometric, thermal and tunneling effects on nano-transistors

Journal Article Hu, Langhua; Chen, Duan; Wei, Guo-Wei - Journal of Computational Physics

Electronic transistors are fundamental building blocks of large scale integrated circuits in modern advanced electronic equipments, and their sizes have been down-scaled to nanometers. Modeling and simulations in the framework of quantum dynamics have emerged as important tools to study functional characteristics of these nano-devices. This work explores the effects of geometric shapes of semiconductor–insulator interfaces, phonon–electron interactions, and quantum tunneling of three-dimensional (3D) nano-transistors. First, we propose a two-scale energy functional to describe the electron dynamics in a dielectric continuum of device material. Coupled governing equations, i.e., Poisson–Kohn–Sham (PKS) equations, are derived by the variational principle. Additionally, it ismore »« less
https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JCP.2015.02.044
Nanoscale integration is the next frontier for nanotechnology

Journal Article Picraux, Samuel - MRS Bulletin

Nanoscale integration of materials and structures is the next critical step to exploit the promise of nanomaterials. Many novel and fascinating properties have been revealed for nanostructured materials. But if nanotechnology is to live up to its promise we must incorporate these nanoscale building blocks into functional systems that connect to the micro- and macroscale world. To do this we will inevitably need to understand and exploit the resulting combined unique properties of these integrated nanosystems. Much science waits to be discovered in the process. Nanoscale integration extends from the synthesis and fabrication of individual nanoscale building blocks, to themore »« less
Full Text Available

Similar Records