Quantum dots foster smaller transistors

ngineers at Rochester have created uniform silicon quantum dots, molecule-sized crystals of silicon that could someday offer computer manufacturers an economically viable way to slip beneath an impending limit to computer power. Every year computer makers squeeze more transistors onto each chip by designing smaller and smaller transistors. Quantum dots take that trend to the extreme, reducing the central building block of a chip to a simple device just a few atoms across.

"In less than 10 years we'll either have to find new ways to make transistors smaller, or the computer industry will halt its progress and stagnate," said Philippe Fauchet, professor of electrical and computer engineering and co-creator of the dots. Since chip manufacturers are fast approaching the smallest size that they can make conventional transistors, they're scrambling into the quantum world to create transistors of a very unconventional sort.

Scientists have been trying for years to make quantum-sized transistors, which could be turned on or off by single electrons and would dramatically reduce a chip's appetite for power. So far most attempts have used expensive materials, but the new dots are made of silicon, which is cheap, plentiful, and already an integrated part of the semiconductor industry. The dots are of uniform size and shape, a necessity for computing and an achievement that has eluded previous attempts.

"Making quantum dots of silicon is much more practical than using some exotic material," said scientist Leonid Tsybeskov, a member of the University's research team. "Silicon is readily available and the industry has much experience processing it. If we're looking to move the computing industry from conventional transistors to quantum dots, we have to make the move as painless as possible."

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