Are the next generation CPUs to rely on nano-noise?
If you’re interested, like I am, at how CPU technology is going to climb over the current apparent physical speed limits without resorting to increased parallelism, there is an interesting resent article by Michael Schirber in the in the Physical Review Focus.
Researchers at Arizona State University are experimenting using stochastic resonance with non-linear gates.
Current logic gates use transistors roughly 90 nanometers across, but chip manufacturers are trying to squeeze the elements down to 65, 45, and even 22.5 nanometers. At these scales, the voltages are no longer steady, due to crosstalk between different wires, thermal fluctuations, and even quantum uncertainty.