Technologies and Designs for Electronic Nanocomputers
Abstract
This paper reviews research developments aimed at the design of electronic computers that contain components with dimensions of only a few nanometers. A nanometer, one billionth of meter, is only about 10 atomic diameters. Such nanometer-scale electronic computers - i.e., electronic "nanocomputers" - that contain molecular-scale components are likely to be up to 10,000 times more densely integrated than today's smallest microcomputers. Electronic technology is one of several alternative technologies (e.g., mechanical, chemical, quantum) that have been proposed for implementing a nanocomputer. Electronic technology for nanometer-scale computers has the advantage, though, that it builds upon nearly a half century of experience and infrastructure developed for electronic computing. Electronic nanocomputers could be orders of magnitude faster than current electronic computers, as well as many times smaller or more densely integrated. Although some of the operating principles for electronic nanocomputers could be similar to present-day electronic microcomputers, there is a limit to how far the designs and fabrication technologies for present-day microcomputers can be scaled down. This has led some investigators to propose radically different "wireless" designs, quantum cellular automata, and nanometer-scale neural networks, all to be constructed from nanoscopic quantum-effect devices. These devices and designs take advantage of some of the very effects that have been obstacles to making smaller conventional transistors and circuits. Still other investigators have proposed the \self-assembly" of electronic devices with nanometer-scale components in order to circumvent some of the difficulties that have inhibited the fabrication of sub-micron structures using conventional lithographic techniques. This review examines critically a range of such technologies and designs for electronic nanocomputers.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 1996
- Accession Number
- AD1108217
Entities
People
- David Goldhaber-Gordon
- Gregory J. Opiteck
- J. C. Love
- James C. Ellenbogen
- Michael S. Montemerlo
Organizations
- MITRE Corporation