10 ms·

That's just a plumbing problem which can be solved by lowering temperature or using a different material with lower resistivity. Yes, it'll probably cost more,

by tagrun 9y ago

That's just a plumbing problem which can be solved by lowering temperature or using a different material with lower resistivity. Yes, it'll probably cost more, but it's a problem that can readily be solved. But if your switching frequency is slow, it doesn't matter if you use a superconductor for wires. It is the switching frequency that truly determines the limits for gate times, which in turn determines how fast your CPU is. For the record, SiGe is also very promising in terms of switching speeds. There were experiments which shows near THz frequencies.

deepnotderp 9y ago
>That's just a plumbing problem which can be solved by lowering temperature or using a different material with lower resistivity. Yes, it'll probably cost more, but it's a problem that can readily be solved. No it's not. What is this magical material with ultra low resistance? And how do you plan to reduce capacitance? Btw, manufacturing terahertz speed transistors is very difficult. There are Mott FETs which will switch at 10 terahertz, but they're incredibly hard to manufacture and very power hungry.
- d-sc 9y ago
  I can’t speak on their usability in circuits. However, materials that show properties characteristic of zero resistance exist. I’ve used them at work before. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superconductivity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superconductivity
  - deepnotderp 9y ago
    And how do you propose to cool every chip to cryogenic temperatures? Not to mention the manufacturing challenge of integrating superconductors into chips (I think InP would be the easiest candidate, and that's saying something...)
- tagrun 9y ago
  There's nothing magical about it. As has been pointed out, chips with superconductors has been a thing for a long time (at least in experimental physics) and there's nothing magical about it, but resistivity is a (nonlinear) function of temperature and lowering it almost always lowers the resistance, so you can achieve this to an extent even with non "magical" materials without going to cryogenic temperatures. You don't have to reduce the capacitance; you'll be fine as long as you can lower the resistivity. Do you have any references for FETs that switch at 10THz? I've never heard of it and I'm interested in the physics of it.

by tagrun 9y ago

deepnotderp 9y ago

>That's just a plumbing problem which can be solved by lowering temperature or using a different material with lower resistivity. Yes, it'll probably cost more, but it's a problem that can readily be solved. No it's not. What is this magical material with ultra low resistance? And how do you plan to reduce capacitance? Btw, manufacturing terahertz speed transistors is very difficult. There are Mott FETs which will switch at 10 terahertz, but they're incredibly hard to manufacture and very power hungry.

d-sc 9y ago
I can’t speak on their usability in circuits. However, materials that show properties characteristic of zero resistance exist. I’ve used them at work before. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superconductivity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superconductivity
- deepnotderp 9y ago
  And how do you propose to cool every chip to cryogenic temperatures? Not to mention the manufacturing challenge of integrating superconductors into chips (I think InP would be the easiest candidate, and that's saying something...)
tagrun 9y ago
There's nothing magical about it. As has been pointed out, chips with superconductors has been a thing for a long time (at least in experimental physics) and there's nothing magical about it, but resistivity is a (nonlinear) function of temperature and lowering it almost always lowers the resistance, so you can achieve this to an extent even with non "magical" materials without going to cryogenic temperatures. You don't have to reduce the capacitance; you'll be fine as long as you can lower the resistivity. Do you have any references for FETs that switch at 10THz? I've never heard of it and I'm interested in the physics of it.