Author: Robert Hyatt
Date: 15:02:24 06/06/02
Go up one level in this thread
On June 06, 2002 at 17:38:07, Russell Reagan wrote: >What I would like to know is if there is a theoretical limit to the speed >processors can reach. > >I'm not sure if this is related or not, but I'll throw this out there also. I >recall long ago hearing or reading about how the electrons passing through a >wire (or whatever medium) bang into each other and thus cause the travel time >from one end of a wire to the other end to take longer, and also causing heat to >be generated from the collisions. It went on to talk about how the smaller the >wire gets, the fewer the number of collisions, the faster the travel time, and >less heat is generated. So is the theoretical limit to processor speed when we >are able to create a wire (or whatever medium) that has the width of a single >electron, and can thus move freely with no collisions? Sorry if this has nothing >to do with my original question. > >I'm not talking so much about other approaches to computing such as quantum >computing. I'm speaking in terms of our current architecture. > >Russell This is a lot of physical nonsense. IE an electron is not a "particle" and so it has no "width". There are problems with electron movement down a wire, as any good E&M course will explain. When an electron moves, it propogates a magnetic field. And while that field builds up, it hinders the electron's movement. No way to control that. There are other issues related to resistance, capacitance and inductance that influence electron movement as well. All cause problems (heat, delay, loss of signal strength). That is one reason for the great interest in optical circuitry where the problems are different.
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