Silicon computer chips are getting so small that their properties will be determined by quantum physics instead by classical physics. Former design principles will have to be thrown away, argues Hrvoje Petek, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh. This article, "Pitt research delves into amazing shrinking computer chips," tells us more.
Petek, working with collaborators at Japan's National Institute for Materials Science, has used ultrashort laser pulses to explore silicon's quantum mechanical properties, which will come into play as silicon transistors eventually shrink to dimensions similar to the thickness of a bacterial cell wall.
In his latest experiments, Petek used very short bursts of ultraviolet laser light -- 10 femtoseconds, or 10 quadrillionths of a second in duration -- to excite a piece of silicon, transforming it from an electrical insulator into a conductor.
Here is a photo of Petek adjusting a Mach-Zehnder interferometer with attosecond resolution (Credit: Hrvoje Petek).
The Pitt experiment triggered the birth of a "quasiparticle," an entity in the strange world of quantum mechanics, the physical principles that hold sway at atomic scale. Petek believes this quasiparticle has properties that could be exploited to improve electronic devices.
Petek said that the control of silicon devices via lasers could lead to transistors which will be 1,000 faster than current ones.
Of course, this is pure speculation. And even specialists disagree about what could be achieved.
Within the decade, Petek said, transistors may be smaller than 50 billionths of a meter, or 50 nanometers. And Alfred Leitenstorfer, a physicist at the University of Konstanz in Germany, suggests they might well drop below 10 nanometers.
"The day will come when quantum physics directly influences the functionality of computers and other electronic equipment that we use in everyday life," wrote Leitenstorfer. "The question is: when?"
For more information, you can check this release from the University of Pittsburgh, "Pitt Professor Reveals Fundamental Physical Behavior of Silicon."
You can also read the abstract of the research paper, "The birth of a quasiparticle in silicon observed in time-frequency space."
Source: Byron Spice, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, November 6, 2003
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