If our electronics want to get smaller and faster, we need technological advances.
 
We live in a world driven by computer circuits. Modern life relies on transistors on semiconductor chips and silicon-based integrated circuits that can switch electronic signals. Most transistors use abundant and inexpensive silicon because it blocks and allows current to flow. It is both an insulator and a semiconductor.

Until recently, micro-transistors extruded on silicon chips have shrunk by half each year. It created the modern digital age, but this era is coming to an end. With the advent of computationally intensive work such as the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, robotics, autonomous vehicles, 5G and 6G handsets, the future of technology is at stake. So what happens next?

What is Moore's Law?
 
Moore's Law is an exponential increase in computing power. As early as 1965, Intel co-founder Gordon Moore observed that the number of transistors on a one-inch computer chip doubled every year, while the cost was halved. Now, this time is 18 months and it is getting longer. In fact, Moore's Law is not a law, but an observation of a person working for a chip manufacturer, but the increased time means that future intensive computing applications may be threatened.
 
Is Moore's Law dead?
 
No, but the speed is too slow, silicon chips need help. Stephen Doran, CEO of British semiconductor applications company Catapult, said: "In an increasing number of applications that require increased speed, reduced latency and light detection, silicon is reaching its performance limits." However, he believes that talking about silicon replacement now It is still too early. He added: "This means that silicon will be completely replaced, which is unlikely to happen in the short term and will probably never happen."
 
The second era of computers is coming soon
 
It is important to study the silicon transistor problem carefully; as a concept, it does not "dead", but it has exceeded its peak. Craig Hampel, chief scientist of the Rambus Memory and Interface Division, said: "Moore's Law specifically refers to the performance of integrated circuits made from semiconductors and only records calculations over the past 50 years."
 
This competition beyond silicon is going on
 
"Human growth in computing demand can be traced back to abacus, mechanical calculators and vacuum tubes, and may go far beyond semiconductors (such as silicon), including superconductors and quantum mechanics."
 
Beyond silicon is a problem because future computing devices will need to be more powerful and flexible. Harold said: "The growing problem with computing is that future systems will need to learn and adapt to new information. They must be 'like the brain'. Coupled with the transformation of chip manufacturing technology, they will create a revolutionary second for computing. An era."
 
What is cold calculation?
 
Some researchers are investigating new ways to get high-performance computers with less energy. "The cold running of a data center or supercomputer can bring significant performance, power and cost advantages," Hampel said.
 
Microsoft's Natick project is an example. As part of the project, a huge data center sank into the coast of the Orkney Islands in Scotland, but this is only a small step. Further lowering the temperature means less leakage current and lower threshold voltage of the transistor switch.
 
As part of the Natick project, Microsoft sank into a data center in the Atlantic.
 
Hampel said: "It reduces some of the challenges of extending Moore's Law." He added that for these types of systems, the natural operating temperature is 77K (-270 ° C) of liquid nitrogen. “The atmosphere is rich in nitrogen, which is relatively inexpensive to collect in liquid form and is an effective cooling medium. We hope that in terms of memory performance and power consumption, it may be extended for another 4 to 10 years.”
 
What is a compound semiconductor?
 
The next generation of semiconductors consists of two or more elements whose properties make them faster and more efficient than silicon. This is the "opportunity" they are already using and will help create 5G and 6G phones.

Doran said: "Compound semiconductors combine two or more elements of the periodic table, such as gallium and nitrogen, to form gallium nitride." He explained that these materials are excellent in terms of speed, retardation, photodetection and emission. In silicon, this will help achieve applications such as 5G and autonomous vehicles.
 
Although they may be used with conventional silicon chips, compound semiconductors will enter 5G and 6G handsets, essentially making them fast enough, small enough, and good battery life.
 
Doran said: "The emergence of compound semiconductors has changed the rules of the game, and it has the potential to bring about change, just like the Internet revolution in communications." This is because compound semiconductors may be 100 times faster than silicon, so they can grow for the Internet of Things. The surge in devices is driving power.
 
What is quantum computing?
 
Who needs the switching state of a classic computer system when you can have the superposition and entanglement of the quantum world? IBM, Google, Intel and other companies are racing to use quantum bits (also known as "qubits") to create quantum computers with powerful processing power that far exceeds silicon transistors.
 
The problem is that quantum physicists and computer architects have to make many breakthroughs before realizing the potential of quantum computing. There is a simple test. Some people in the quantum computing world believe that before the advent of quantum computers, they need to meet their requirements: "Quantum is supreme."
 
Hampel said: "This just means that on the road to Moore's Law, quantum machines are better at accomplishing specific tasks than traditional semiconductor processors." So far, achieving this goal is still out of reach.
 
What is Intel doing?
 
Since Intel is a pioneer in the manufacture of silicon transistors, it is not surprising that Intel has invested heavily in silicon-based quantum computing research.
 
Adrian Criddle, vice president and general manager of the UK sales and marketing group, said: "In addition to investing in the expansion of superconducting qubits that need to be stored at very low temperatures, Intel is still investigating an alternative approach. The alternative architecture is based on 'spin quantum Bit ', runs on silicon."
 
Spin qubits use microwave pulses to control the spin of a single electron on a silicon-based device. Intel recently used spin qubits on its latest "world's smallest quantum chip." Crucially, it uses silicon and existing commercial manufacturing methods.
 
Criddle explained: "Spin qubits can overcome some of the challenges of superconducting methods because they are smaller in size, easier to shrink, and can operate at higher temperatures. More importantly, spin quantum The bit processor design is similar to traditional silicon transistor technology."
 
However, Intel's spin qubit system can still only approach absolute zero; cold computing will be closely related to the development of quantum computers. At the same time, IBM has a 50-bit processor Q, while Google Quantum AI Lab has a 72-bit Bristlecone processor.
 
How about graphene and carbon nanotubes?
 
These so-called magical materials may one day replace silicon. Doran said: "Their electrical, mechanical and thermal properties are far beyond what can be achieved with silicon-based devices." However, he warned that it may take many years to prepare for the golden age.
 
“Si-based devices have evolved over the decades and evolved with related manufacturing technologies,” he said. “Graphenes and carbon nanotubes are still at the beginning of this journey, if they are to replace silicon in the future, to achieve this. The manufacturing tools required for a goal still need to be developed."
 
Regardless of the prospects of other materials, we are now in the atomic age. Harold said: "Everyone is thinking about atoms. Our progress is now at the stage of a single atomic count, and even storage is looking for ways to work at the atomic level - IBM has shown possible ways to store data on a single atom. Today, creating 1 or 0, the binary number used to store data, requires 100,000 atoms.
 
However, there is a problem here. Harold added: "As a means of storing or transmitting information, atoms are inherently less stable, which means more logic is needed to correct the error." Therefore, future computer systems are likely to be superpositions of various technologies, each The technology is to compensate for the shortcomings of another technology.
 
Therefore, no answer can extend the life of silicon to the next computing era. Compound semiconductors, quantum computing, and cold computing all have an important role to play in research and development. The future of the computer is likely to have a hierarchical structure of the machine, but so far no one knows what tomorrow's computer will look like.
 
Hampel said: "Although Moore's Law will end, the long-term and long-lasting trend of index computing power is likely to end."