so i just read about 5 articles on ibm storing data on singular atoms and i am so confused. Do they mean regular atoms?? like the ones that make up me and the whole world?? or does ‘atom’ mean something else in the computer world? and what do they mean by data, what kind of data? i know that this is old news but im hoping that means someone will have the answers. idk if my brain just can’t comprehend the words they were using or if it genuinely just doesn’t make sense. someone help pls☹️
In: Technology
They mean regular atoms. Because atoms are made of protons and neutrons, with electrons orbiting, and have magnetic fields, mass, and other properties, there are many ways (in theory) to change some of these attributes and thus make one of the atoms (within a layer of similar atoms) “different” (in other words, make it a “1” when all the other atoms are “0”).
The problem is that our level of miniaturization is still too “blocky” for that kind of precision. 7nm, which is a recent level of miniaturization for computer processors, has [quite a few atoms](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/3csiFN0HD4A/hqdefault.jpg) of silicon in that area, and going smaller is increasingly difficult.
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