
"A group of researchers has fabricated
a single-atom transistor by introducing one phosphorous atom into a silicon lattice. Through the use of a scanning tunnelling microscope and hydrogen-resist lithography, Martin Fuechsle et al. placed the phosphorous atom precisely between very thin silicon leads, allowing them to measure its electrical behavior. The results show clearly that we can read both the quantum transitions within the phosphorous atom and its transistor behavior. No smaller solid-state devices are possible, so systems of this type reveal the limit of Moore's law - the prediction about the miniaturization of technology - while pointing toward solid-state quantum computing devices."
Member since:
2005-07-24
The situation is even easier: quantum tagging / degradation
Once the message is read, it is destroyed. And, with a low probability of natural failure, would mean that a single transmitted secure-mode packet would signal a security breach and a new secure protocol would be enacted.
Snooping would disrupt communications of secure data, but the information itself would be largely secure (save for the odd packet here or there...).
--The loon