Researchers at IBM have used carbon molecules to emit light, a breakthrough that could replace silicon as the foundation of chips and lead to faster computers and telecommunication equipment. The focus of the research team was ultratiny, tube-shaped carbon molecules, or nanotubes, that are more than 50,000 times thinner than an average human hair, according to a statement from IBM this week.
Chips Could Crunch at Light Speed
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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How many FPS do I get in Quake III if my processor is running at 3.0×10^8 meters/second?
At light speed conductor length be it optical or electrical becomes the limiting factor.
in a Proc would the impact of the conductor length be negligable?
Man, that’s so cool. I’m already waiting for the time when they run out of ways to cram more performance into carbon molecules chips 🙂
If my processor were running at light speed, I think my first question would be ‘where did it get legs???’
Well, even with todays cpus you can do preety much on the desktop. Faster and better computers have led software developers to write crapier code (look at win), this way manufacturers where able to push every 6 to 12 months newer machines on the troat of the average users. I’ve read about things like this a year ago, 2 year ago and so on. Its just advertising. We won’t see it for a long time…
I recall back in ’96 (I was like 14) and entered a computer store asking how much an Intel Merced is….see where I’m going? (Back then it was easyer to mislead people).
I mentioned something about light stuff in a comment a while back (In a dumbass, I’m not a scientist kind of way :>). Nice to see an article showing that someone out there is researching this kind of thing.
Woooohoooo!! Hold on tight, everybody–here we go!!
Does this mean I can do away with the neon lights in my case? And do these chips come in a variety of colours?
because no matter what they’ve done in the past, they continually push the boundaries of the possible.