Jaydevsinh Parmar

ENG 111-34
December 8, 2015

MOORES LAW IS DYING

Moores law is about to die. The total number of silicon transistors that can be fitted on
a single chip is now saturating. Reducing the size of computer chips further takes us to atomic
levels. This means the computer wont become faster if this problem isnt solved. The solution
to this are carbon nanotubes transistors because they are faster and more efficient than silicon.
Gordon Moore was the lead in research and development at Fairchild Semiconductor.
He was a pioneer in the early days of computing industry. When he was asked about the future
of the industry in a magazine interview Moore observed that integrated circuits (which we
now call microchips) were doubling in capacity every two years (Fairweather). This means,
the computers were twice as fast as they were two years ago. This is now known as Moores
law. Moore said that this would hold true for at least 10 years, but it has been held true for 5
decades, until recently.
Intel announced that it will not be manufacturing its next range of chips using 10
nanometer (nm) transistors, but will instead stick to using the 14nm transistors until 2017
(Fairweather). This means that Intel will not be able to make faster computers. Transistors are
the reason why computers work. They are really tiny switches that turn on and off for
processing data. We are able to manufacture transistors of less than 14nm (a nanometer is
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billionth of a meter), but as we go smaller we have to face the fundamental laws of physics. The
space between two atoms of silicon is 0.5nm, if the transistor is 10nm thick the electrons starts
to leak causing the transistors to fail.

There are many emerging technologies that can replace silicon chips like quantum
computers, optic computers, DNA computer, and Carbon nanotube microchips. Carbon
nanotube is the most matured and can be used in the near future. IBM has solved a major
problem in making transistors from carbon nanotubes. It says carbon nanotubes can transform
the way computer chips are manufactured and can easily replace silicon (Prigg). Prigg also says
that carbon microchips are startlingly faster, smaller and more powerful than silicon chips.
Carbon nanotube microchips improves the battery life of mobile devices and can make them
even smaller without decreasing their performance. According to Prigg, carbon nanotubes can
operate easily at 10nm. They can also drastically increase the processing power of high
performance computers. IBM is delivering on its $3 billion chip R&D investment announced in
July 2014 (Prigg). With generous funding it will be commercialized even faster. This
breakthrough shows that computer chips made of carbon nanotubes will be able to power
systems of the future sooner than the industry expected (Prigg).

If we want our computers to be faster, and want the Moores law from dying we need to
replace silicon. Although we have many options like quantum and optic computers, carbon
nanotubes is the best option to replace silicon chips. With a lot of funding and being the most
mature technology, carbon nanotubes are the future of computing and Moores law.

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Works Cited

Fairweather, Alistair. "The End of Moore's Law." The M&G Online. Mail & Guardian, 20 July
2105. Web. 8 Dec. 2015.
Prigg, Mark. "The End of Silicon? IBM Reveals Carbon Nanotube Breakthrough That Could
Revolutionise Computing and Lead to Ultrafast Artificial Intelligence 'brain Chips'" Mail
Online. Daily Mail, 2 Oct. 2015. Web. 8 Dec. 2015.

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