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So what applications this will have ?

• sverige 8y ago
  If they can figure out how to make circuits with a material that operates as a superconductor at practical operating temperatures, it would have wide application. But I don't think that's what the article is saying. More of an interesting step on a possible path to that desired outcome.
• m-p-3 8y ago
  It this leads to room temperature superconductivity, it could allow MRI scanners to operate without the need of expensive helium-based coolant system. And this could also mean that if they can use it in PCB, you could have a CPU that doesn't release heat. The implication of heatless CPUs and less need for cooling would have a tremendous impact in datacenters.
  • daveguy 8y ago
    As far as I can tell room temp SC would be more beneficial to power transmission than anything. The energy could be zipped along from wherever it is generated most efficiently with little loss. Successful room temp SC wouldn't be able to produce heatless CPUs because the transistor mechanism has to work by essentially a changing resistance level. So the billions of transistors themselves would still give off heat, but not the wires connecting them. I'm not sure what percentage heat comes from the transistors vs conduits between those transistors. Significant boost in efficiency / reduction in heat, but not heatless.
    • ericpauley 8y ago
      In general the power consumption is in the transistors, and related more directly to junction capacitance, voltage, and frequency than to resistance.
  • slededit 8y ago
    The vast majority of CPU power dissipation is from dumping gate capacitance to ground - not the resistance of the interconnects. It's akin to filling (very small) buckets of water and dumping them back out billions of times a second. Zero resistance interconnects would allow us to charge those gates faster resulting higher clock speeds though.