Researchers: We Make Transistors 1M Times More Efficient
Forget 10x efficiency increase. What about 1,000,000x?
New research coming out of the McCormick School at Northwestern University proposes the use of spin-transistors as a replacement for traditional CMOS transistors in computer chips. The scientists behind the project claim that electronic circuits could be up to a million times more efficient when using spintronics.
First shown at the International Symposium On Nanoscale Architectures held earlier this month in the Netherlands, the technology is described as an "entirely new logic circuit family" that uses magnetoresistive bipolar spin-transistors that are capable of performing the same functions as traditional CMOS transistors, but take advantage of the magnetic properties in electron spin to do so.
How fast and how efficient is the technology now? Don't ask. No information beyond the initial research and an associated paper "Emitter-Coupled Spin-Transistor Logic" has been disclosed. Don't expect this technology to materialize in any products anytime soon. However, in theory, it is amazing to see what may be possible in future devices.

In short if this is true then we may see single processors with as much computing power as a modern day super computer or more. I wonder how small they can make these transistors...
It's only theory.
I do like the direction this research is headed. If only theories were put into practice faster than the current 10-15+ year timeline we're currently seeing.
It's only theory.
I do like the direction this research is headed. If only theories were put into practice faster than the current 10-15+ year timeline we're currently seeing.
In short if this is true then we may see single processors with as much computing power as a modern day super computer or more. I wonder how small they can make these transistors...
You are wrong and the article is right.
1 Mega = 1 Million
1 Giga = 1 Billion
1 Mega = 1 Million
1 Giga = 1 Billion
I fail, that's what I get for trying to think before my first cup of coffee (-;
Where is this paper? Please add a link to the Paper or the Journal. I'm sick of articles without references.
It is a conference paper for NANOARCH. The NANOARCH symposium proceedings for 2012 is yet to be published online. See here:
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/conhome.jsp?punumber=1001687
The paper is :
Emitter-Coupled Spin-Transistor Logic
J. S. Friedman, Y. I. Ismail, G. Memik, A. V. Sahakian, and B. W. Wessels
In Proc. of IEEE/ACM International Symposium on Nanoscale Architectures (NANOARCH), Amsterdam, The Netherlands, July 2012
Uh...
k = kilo = 1000 (every drug dealer knows that)
m = mega = 1.000.000 (Lottery winners know that)
g = giga = 1.000.000.000 ( minimum to get a Fortune 500 listing )
t = tera = 1.000.000.000.000 ( Government debts...)
how about: and more's law is beat up in a back alley and left for dead. If this works as advertized, and even comes out in 10 years it would still be more than the mere 'doubling' effect of more's law
you forgot peta, exa, zetta, yotta, zona, weka, vunda, uda, treda, sorta, rinta, quexa, pepta, ocha, nena, minga, and luma.... not sure what comes after luma...
http://jimvb.home.mindspring.com/unitsystem.htm
I want a 1Lumabyte HDD... I think it would last me a while
I hate to sound cynical, but that's kinda what Moore's law is all about. We really shouldn't be so surprised. I understand there is no guarantee that Moore's law will continue on, but if my life was at stake on a bet, I would have to say that in ten years, we could be looking at petaflop desktops.
sounds like a lame punk band.
It doesn't work for digital electronics like CPUs, they are developed for radios.