Seven Atom Transistors can be Used to Make Future PC

Researchers have shown Transistors that can be made from seven atoms and it can be used to make powerful and smaller PC. The Australian creators also hope that this is a step towards solid-state quantum computer. In other word, the new atomic transistor mean chips with components up to 100 times smaller than on existing processors.

The  two research groups have previously produced much smaller single-atom transistors.However, the device is many times smaller than that of those found in chips in the latest computers. On chips where components are 22 nanometres in size, transistor gates are about 42 atoms across. The transistor was developed by replacing seven atoms in a silicon crystal with phosphorus atoms.

“Now we have just demonstrated the world’s first electronic device in silicon systematically created on the scale of individual atoms,” said Professor Michelle Simmons, lead researcher on the project at the University of New South Wales.

Moore’s Law projects that the amount of memory that can fit on an area of silicon, for a fixed cost doubles every 12-18 months. The prediction indicates that as components become smaller and their computational properties is going to be less reliable.

If an entire chip could be made with every one of its billions of transistors made from the silicon crystals, then there is going to be huge increase in processing power, said Professor Simmons.