Silicon No More - We have found something better

Nice post. But it's old news. I read that days ago.

Saw that in NYTimes, so maybe we'll have to delay quantum computers for a bit?

The one and only "Monstrous BULLgarian!"

Completely forget about quantum computers for a decade or two, then we can take a look a the situation again. They currently have huge issues to make them practical and even feasible. They need to be able to control several hundreds of quantum bits, while curently they only have half a dozen. It also has to be super-cooled so it won't fit in your living room. The 'interface' to the quantum bits would still be electrical thus limited by the same problems for sequencial computing. Quantum bit states are volatile (in the order of femtoseconds) and only have a limited certainty of returning the correct result (Heisenberg). Reading out just one quantum state erases the superposition of other states (Schrodinger's Cat) so there is still no way to use it for parallel -independent- computing. And last but not least there is only a handfull of algorithms that theoretically really do take full use of a quantum computer's processing power, like code breaking. So once they have a real one working, the CIA will use it for several years before the public even gets to see a glimpse of it.

On top of that, the silicon business is so huge that it would be impossible for the first slow and expensive quantum computers to get a spot in the market. As long as there is no real demand for it from companies and the big public it simply won't get nowhere. And the silicon industry won't let itself get pushed away. Compare it to electrical cars or the ones on hydrogen: they -could- be cheaper, faster and cleaner than cars on gasoline -if- there was some more money for research but right now everybody is just too happy with gasoline and the money they make out of mother earth's resources...

By the way, the title of this thread is incorrect as well. They still do use silicon as the major component, they just found a better dielectic and gate material. Eventually silicon might also get replaced by 'artificial' semi-conductors but not quite yet.

well on to the exotics and not so exotics, when I worked for Rockwell the processor chips were made of GaAs (gallium Arsnide)when I left for greener pastures in 1994 we had a processor chip that clocked at 21 ghz, of course it was only 16 bit and .5 micron technology. I wonder how far that process has gone, these chips were for DARPA so who knows where they are today. The process was also used epitaxial layers so the "transistors" were vertical into the P & N doping. Just some food for thought about the "new" materials being used today

when all is said and done, what you've done for your neighbor is most important

Leave the lemmings alone.

Where the heck did you find that link?