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> 1999
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> November 5, 1999:
Hour One: New Chip Technology
| Last month, a researcher at Intel Corporation published a paper in the journal Science warning that a limit to the ever-shrinking nature of the computer chip might be looming on the horizon. The Intel scientist, Paul A. Packan, wrote that the rule of thumb of chip development known as "Moore's Law," under which the number of transistors that can be packed onto a computer chip doubles about every 18 months, may not be able to sustain itself far into the coming decade. Physical limits on the size of transistors -- how small they can be made while remaining reliable -- may be "the most difficult challenge the semiconductor industry has ever faced," Packan wrote. | 
Intel's new Pentium III
with .18 micron spacing.
(courtesy Intel Corporation) | Not everyone is so convinced of the slowdown, however. Gordon Moore, one of the founders of Intel (and the Moore who came up with "Moore's Law") says he thinks the trend may continue for at least another decade. And recent research into "molecular computers" -- building circuits on a nanometer scale through chemical means -- may provide one of the solutions. Teams at Hewlett-Packard, UCLA, Yale, and Rice University have created logic gates-- the basic switches of computers--only a single molecule thick. The molecular switches can be manufactured without the complicated, multi-million-dollar fabrication plants needed to make today's silicon-based computer chips. There are still many problems to be solved, however, including the problem of how to connect the tiny switches together.
Other researchers have been hard at work developing transistors that can be applied to flexible materials, giving the possibility of a computer screen that you could fold up and stuff in your pocket. And demand for faster, better "traditional" silicon chips hasn't died off by any means. Computer manufacturers recently announced new chips intended for desktop machines that can reach speeds of 1 gigahertz. On this hour of Science Friday, we'll talk about the current state of the art in computer processor technology -- and talk about what may lie ahead.
Guests:
Mark Reed
Harold Hodgkinson Professor of Electrical Engineering and Applied Science
Chair, Department of Electrical Engineering
Yale University
New Haven, Connecticut
Martin Reynolds
Vice President and Research Fellow, Computer Systems and Peripherals Group
Dataquest
San Jose, California
Books/Articles Discussed:
Related Links:
Yale News Release- Molecular Sized Memory
Hewlett-Packard Labs Worldwide - Molecules That Compute
IBM Research
Welcome to Intel
SEMATECH
Dataquest
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- This segment produced by:
Karin Vergoth
Web producer:
Charles Bergquist
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