The Advocate
Don Eigler, Nanoelectronics Program, Advisory Committee Chair
The Pitch
Computer processors double in power about every two years – this phenomenon is known as Moore’s law. How does this happen? Increased power comes from making smaller and smaller switches, so that more and more of them can be crammed onto a computer chip. More switches means more processing power. Moore’s law has been the underpinning principle that has led to the information revolution of the past 40 years.
There is a problem, though: there is a limit to how small a conventional switch can be. Scientists expect to hit that limit sometime in the next decade. What happens then?
We think the answer lies in nanoelectronics, which involves building devices measured in nanometers (which are one billionth of a meter). Effectively, this means building computers one atom at a time, which presents a whole set of engineering challenges that are vastly different from typical microchip production.
The laws of quantum physics start to come into play, which presents major challenges both for production and for the functionality of the devices. Nevertheless, nanoelectronics have already proven practicable, and this field is the most promising way of ensuring that Moore’s law – and the information revolution – continue to progress.
From climatology to genetics, and from economics to cosmology, research scientists perpetually seek more powerful computers in order to do more sophisticated modeling and calculations. Because nanoelectronics holds the key to ensuring the continued advancement of so many other areas of research, we need to answer this particular question first.
The Bottom Line
“Can we sustain the information revolution?” is the Next Big Question because it allows us to answer so many other big questions.