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It's an interesting thought experiment. I can entertain the idea of a superconductor staying a secret in a military environment, but I can't imagine it getting

It's an interesting thought experiment. I can entertain the idea of a superconductor staying a secret in a military environment, but I can't imagine it getting widescale commercial use and staying a secret.

h0l0cube 3y ago
Sure I think the idea fanciful, and I agree that keeping the tech from leaking would be close to impossible, but if the stakes were high enough, maybe a centrally governed and authoritarian government like China could pull it off. It's at least fun to think about.
- PaulHoule 3y ago
  In this movie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainstorm_(1983_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainstorm_(1983_film) a researcher builds a device that can record and play back experiences which takes up most of a room, in a meeting with his boss, he receives some secret microchips made of a room temperature superconductor that he uses to make headsets.
  - h0l0cube 3y ago
    Thank you for that. I had never encountered this film. I think parallels could also be drawn to the (highly underrated) Counterpart Series, where a researcher in Berlin accidentally creates a portal to a parallel earth and a cold war between the two world ensues. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterpart_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterpart_(TV_series)
    - pmayrgundter 3y ago
      Thank you. I was never able to find this again. Really enjoyed it!
  - mindcrime 3y ago
    I only just got around to watching Brainstorm sometime last year. It's far from a perfect movie, but definitely worth watching.
tonetegeatinst 3y ago
My understanding is that while you can reverse engineer something like a new material via trial and effort plus some basic lab analysis of samples.....stuff like chips are a PITA to reverse engineer. My understanding is that a major hurdle is just how tiny everything is on modern chiplets. If I remember right....someone managed to reverse engineer the Intel 8086 or the 8080....but my understanding is that our lithography is so complex at this point you can't accurately reverse engineer the physical chip layout. If one could reverse engineer the physical layout and chemical layers...you could probably use that information to reverse engineer the photolithography mask and chemical etching step. TLDR: we can't reverse those modern server CPU's ....we can only learn via what the fan or the chiplet owner be it Intel or and or apple decides to release regarding architecture or chip layout.
- troglodynellc 3y ago
  Back when I worked at TI we had a neat machine that used X-Rays to map and reverse competitor chips (mostly to discover they were duping ours). It would work down to just short of a 10nm resolution. You'd need to use gamma spectrography to map out more modern chips. I'm sure someone's got the equipment somewhere; the chip manufacturers themselves must verify they got a good etch somehow.

h0l0cube 3y ago

Sure I think the idea fanciful, and I agree that keeping the tech from leaking would be close to impossible, but if the stakes were high enough, maybe a centrally governed and authoritarian government like China could pull it off. It's at least fun to think about.

PaulHoule 3y ago
In this movie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainstorm_(1983_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainstorm_(1983_film) a researcher builds a device that can record and play back experiences which takes up most of a room, in a meeting with his boss, he receives some secret microchips made of a room temperature superconductor that he uses to make headsets.
- h0l0cube 3y ago
  Thank you for that. I had never encountered this film. I think parallels could also be drawn to the (highly underrated) Counterpart Series, where a researcher in Berlin accidentally creates a portal to a parallel earth and a cold war between the two world ensues. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterpart_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterpart_(TV_series)
  - pmayrgundter 3y ago
    Thank you. I was never able to find this again. Really enjoyed it!
- mindcrime 3y ago
  I only just got around to watching Brainstorm sometime last year. It's far from a perfect movie, but definitely worth watching.

tonetegeatinst 3y ago

My understanding is that while you can reverse engineer something like a new material via trial and effort plus some basic lab analysis of samples.....stuff like chips are a PITA to reverse engineer. My understanding is that a major hurdle is just how tiny everything is on modern chiplets. If I remember right....someone managed to reverse engineer the Intel 8086 or the 8080....but my understanding is that our lithography is so complex at this point you can't accurately reverse engineer the physical chip layout. If one could reverse engineer the physical layout and chemical layers...you could probably use that information to reverse engineer the photolithography mask and chemical etching step. TLDR: we can't reverse those modern server CPU's ....we can only learn via what the fan or the chiplet owner be it Intel or and or apple decides to release regarding architecture or chip layout.

troglodynellc 3y ago
Back when I worked at TI we had a neat machine that used X-Rays to map and reverse competitor chips (mostly to discover they were duping ours). It would work down to just short of a 10nm resolution. You'd need to use gamma spectrography to map out more modern chips. I'm sure someone's got the equipment somewhere; the chip manufacturers themselves must verify they got a good etch somehow.