Minimum transistor
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Minimum transistor
Beijing time on May 26, 2010 According to the physicist organization network, American and Australian scientists have successfully produced the world's smallest transistor - a "quantum dot" composed of 7 atoms on the surface of single crystal silicon, marking We have taken an important step towards a new era of computing power. Quantum dots are nanometer-sized luminescent crystals, sometimes referred to as "artificial atoms." Although this quantum dot is very small and only 4 billionths of a meter in length, it is a well-functioning electronic device and the world's first electronic device deliberately created with atoms. Not only can it be used to regulate and control the current of devices like commercial transistors, it also marks an important step in the new era of atomic scale miniaturization and ultra-high-speed, ultra-powerful computers.
A joint team of researchers from the Center for Quantum Computer Technology (CQCT) at the University of New South Wales in Australia and the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the latest issue of Nature Nanotechnology magazine described the findings in detail. Professor Michelle Simmons, director of the Center for Quantum Computer Technology, who participated in the study, said: "The importance of this achievement is that we are not observing atoms or observing atoms under a microscope, but manipulating individual atoms. , placing it on the surface with atomic precision to make a working electronic device."
“The Australian research team has been able to make full use of crystalline silicon to make electronic devices. We replaced seven silicon atoms with crystalline phosphorus on crystalline silicon and achieved amazing accuracy. This is a major technological achievement, indicating the manufacture of the ultimate computer. 'A quantum step in the feasibility of a quantum computer made of silicon atoms.” The technique of placing atoms on the surface of an object—scanning tunneling microscopy—has been around for twenty years. Prior to this, no one could use this technology to make atomic-accurate electronic devices and then process them for electronic input from the microscopic world.
Professor Simmons said: "How small is the electronic device? We are verifying its limits. Australia's first computer was launched in 1949, it occupies the entire room, you can only hold the parts with your hands. Today, You can put your computer on your palm, and the diameter of many parts is even one thousandth of the diameter of a hair."
“Now we have demonstrated the world’s first electronic device that is systematically manufactured on silicon scales with silicon. This is not only of special significance to computer users, it is extremely important for all Australians. For the past 50 years, electronics Device miniaturization has been a key factor driving the rapid growth of global economic productivity. Our research shows that this process can continue."
The main goal of the US-Australian Joint Research Group is to create quantum computers from silicon atoms. Australians have unique human resources in this field and are world leaders. This new electronic device shows that the technology to make devices are manufactured and measured at the atomic scale has begun.
Currently, the length of a commercial transistor gate (the device that allows the transistor to act as a current amplifier or switch) is about 40 nanometers (1 nanometer is equivalent to one billionth of a meter), and the research team at the Quantum Computer Technology Center is developing. A device that is only 0.4 nanometers in length.
Professor Simmons pointed out that 20 years ago, Don Eigler and Erhard Schweizer created the IBM logo with helium atoms at IBM's Almaden Research Center. This is also the smallest logo in the world at the time. The two used a scanning tunneling microscope to place 35 helium atoms on the nickel surface, spelling out the "IBM" three letters. [4]
Aigle and Schweitzer's research paper was published in Nature, and they wrote: "The basic principles of device miniaturization are obvious." The two also warned many times in the paper, and concluded at the end: "The prospect of the logic circuit of atomic scale and other equipment is far away from us." Professor Simmons said: "The seemingly distant things at the time have now become Reality. We can use this microscope to not only observe or manipulate atoms, but also to make atomic precision equipment with 7 atoms, so that it can work in real environment."