Author: Robert Hyatt
Date: 19:01:35 12/02/99
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On December 01, 1999 at 22:07:35, Tom Amburn wrote: > > A few years ago I was reading somewhere that scientist were trying to discover >Superconductivity, it said the benifits of this technology would lead to a >thousand times increase in computer speed. I am not sure if I have all the facts >correctly, as the article is hazy in the back on my memory. Can someone explain >exactly what this superconductivity is and how it would benifit computer chess >if ever discovered? thanks Superconductors have zero resistance. Zero resistance means you can make very small devices without regard to how much heat they will produce, since with zero resistance there is zero heat produced by the circuit. At present, if you make a transistor too small it burns up instantly due to its own generated heat.. When you make smaller transistors, you put them closer together, and propogation delays shrink. But a factor of 1000 is probably way high, as I don't think anyone could (at present) make a transistor that much smaller, since current technology uses a photographic process... a transistor that small is such a small fraction of the wavelength of light that it would be impossible to produce... at least today... No one has really made a superconducting computer to date, although the idea has gotten some attention from time to time, particularly with the new superconducting ceramic materials that don't have to get near to absolute zero, which is difficult to sustain...
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