This is an example of just how hard it is to keep progress in
microprocessors. The silicon oxide layer was the barrier to smaller,
much more low power chips. The layer had got down to 5 atoms of silicon
across in 65 and 45nm chips which we've seen in recent years. The
problem has been worked on for over a decade. Mass production of chip
elements 5 atoms thick is extraordinary but the solution is even more
extraordinary. The very latest generation of chips will see the
transistor change at a fundamental level and layers of materials will be
deposited at a single atom thick. The technique sounds fantastical. A
gas is pumped in which reacts with the surface layer of the chip to
produce a single layer of molecules coating a surface then other gases
are pumped in which react with the first layer to produce multilayered
materials with each later a single atom in thickness.
I wish there was something half as clever in mental health science and
technology. They can't even get the fucking measures right. They're
battling a placebo effect that is as effective as treatments which have
billions spent on R&D. Of course silicon science is much simpler than
the human condition but the rate it's accelerating there'll whole new
consciousnesses developing before the human race can understand its own.
No comments:
Post a Comment