February 21, 2012 01:14 pm EDT

Single atom transistors point to the future of quantum computers, death of Moore's law

Transistors -- the basic building block of the complex electronic devices around you. Literally billions of them make up that Core i7 in your gaming rig and Moore's law says that number will double every 18 months as they get smaller and smaller. Researchers at the University of New South Wales may have found the limit of this basic computational rule however, by creating the world's first single atom transistor. A single phosphorus atom was placed into a silicon lattice and read with a pair of extremely tiny silicon leads that allowed them to observe both its transistor behavior and its quantum state. Presumably this spells the end of the road for Moore's Law, as it would seem all but impossible to shrink transistors any farther. But, it could also points to a future featuring miniaturized solid-state quantum computers.

Single atom transistors point to the future of quantum computers, death of Moore's law originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Feb 2012 08:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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