Engineers in Australia have have proven, with the highest score ever achieved, that a quantum version of computer code can be written, and manipulated, using two quantum bits in a silicon microchip. The advance removes lingering doubts that such operations can be made reliably enough to allow powerful quantum computers to become a reality.
Continue reading… “Australian engineers prove quantum computer coding in silicon now possible”
Each chip on this wafer has 10,000 nanotube transistors on it.
For more than ten years, engineers have been worrying that they are running out of tricks for continuing to shrink silicon transistors. Intel’s latest chips have transistors with features as small as 14 nanometers, but it is unclear how the industry can keep scaling down silicon transistors much further or what might replace them.
Continue reading… “Commercial nanotube transistors could be ready by 2020”
The startup, Amprius is working on a new type of long-lasting lithium-ion batteries for laptops and electric vehicles. The company has started to sell its batteries for use in portable electronics. Amprius recently raised $30 million in venture capital to develop its next-generation batteries, which use high-energy silicon electrodes. The company says the batteries will store about 50 percent more energy than the battery cells in today’s electric vehicles.
Continue reading… “Amprius raises $30 million to develop high-energy silicon batteries”
Researchers unveil the first working computer built entirely from carbon nanotube transistors.
A group of researchers at Stanford University have moved a step closer to answering the question of what happens when silicon, the standard material in today’s microelectronic circuits, reaches its fundamental limits for use in increasingly small transistors.
Continue reading… “Stanford engineers successfully build world’s first carbon nanotube computer”
Moore’s Law — the ability to pack twice as many transistors on the same sliver of silicon every two years — will come to an end as soon as 2020 at the 7nm node says Robert Colwell who now works for DARPA (trying to pick after CMOS technology) and was Intel’s chief chip architect from 1990 to 2001.
Continue reading… “End of Moore’s Law by early 2020’s: It’s not just about physics”
Silicon-based transistors must be powered all the time.
Experts predict that in less than 20 years we will reach the physical limit of how much processing capability can be squeezed out of silicon-based processors in the heart of our computing devices. But a recent scientific finding that could completely change the way we build computing devices may simply allow engineers to sidestep any obstacles.
Continue reading… “Why computing will never be limited by Moore’s Law”
Washington State University Professor Grant Norton
Most batteries today are lithium ion batteries, and employ carbon as the anode. Other materials perform much better than carbon, and could substantially increase battery capacity. Tin anodes could potentially triple energy density, and silicon anodes might be able to hold 9 times as much charge as carbon. Such advances could lead to tablet computers and laptops that run for days before battery depletion, and to miniature, battery powered UAVs able to remain aloft for up to an hour.
Deflexion silicone armor
If you like to live dangerously you know that solid body armor is the way to go for maximum protection. A new type of fabric can instantly transform into hard armor when somebody hits you, while remaining soft and flexible the rest of the time.
Continue reading… “Deflexion Silcone Armor Instantly Transforms Into Hard Armor When Needed”
Touch was thought to be the most difficult sense to replicate.
Robotics has made tremendous strides in replicating the senses of sight and sound, but smell and taste are still lagging behind, and touch was thought to be the most difficult of them all…until new pressure-sensitive electronic skin came along.
Continue reading… “New Pressure-Sensitive Electronic Skin Will Give Robots the Sense of Touch”
Large solar flare recorded by the SOHO/EIT telescope using UV light.
When researchers found an unusual linkage between solar flares and the inner life of radioactive elements on Earth, it touched off a scientific detective investigation that could end up protecting the lives of space-walking astronauts and maybe rewriting some of the assumptions of physics.
Continue reading… “Researchers Find Link Between Solar Flares and Radioactive Elements on Earth”
Can DNA really replace microchips?
A Duke University engineer proposes that it’s possible to use custom-made DNA to generate self-assembling nanostructures that could be used as a cheap replacement for silicon microchips:
In his latest set of experiments, Chris Dwyer, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering, demonstrated that by simply mixing customized snippets of DNA and other molecules, he could create literally billions of identical, tiny, waffle-looking structures…
Beer has a rich source of dietary silicon
Beer may help keep bones strong because it’s a rich source of dietary silicon, which contributes to bone mineral density, a new study reports. But the amount of silicon apparently varies by the type of beer.
Continue reading… “Silicon In Beer Helps Keep Bones Strong”
