Is Moore’s law still applicable today? And is there any limitations to just how small a transistor can actually get?
In: Physics
For now, yes. We can still expect the transistors in a chip to roughly double every two years. But there is a limit and we are getting somewhat close to it, so it’s not really clear how long it will continue to apply.
Basically, if you imagine transistors as a switch that open and closes, once you get small enough the electricity will just sorta teleport across it even if you try to turn it off. That keeps it from being very useful. Using other kinds of materials than silicon may help, and even after that we’ll probably still be able to find other ways to make computers more efficient, so it’s not like they’ll be the end of computer advancements. It just means we might have to get more creative and might not make big leaps at quite the same rate.
Latest Answers