Difference between revisions of "CSC103: DT's Notes 1"
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The same is true of '''silicon transistors''' powered by electricity. Silicon is the material of choice for electronic microprocessor circuits as well as semiconductor circuits we find in today's computers. Its appeal lies in its property of being able to either conduct and not conduct electricity, depending on a signal it receives which is also electrical. Silicon allows us to create electrical switches that are very fast, very small, and consume very little power. But because we are very good at creating semiconductor | The same is true of '''silicon transistors''' powered by electricity. Silicon is the material of choice for electronic microprocessor circuits as well as semiconductor circuits we find in today's computers. Its appeal lies in its property of being able to either conduct and not conduct electricity, depending on a signal it receives which is also electrical. Silicon allows us to create electrical switches that are very fast, very small, and consume very little power. But because we are very good at creating semiconductor | ||
| − | in silicon, it doesn't mean that it is the substrate of choice. Researchers have shown<ref name="Adleman">Adleman, L. M., "Molecular computation of solutions to combinatorial problems". Science 266 (5187): 1021–1024. 1994.</ref> that complex computation could also be done using DNA, in vials. Think about it: no electricity there; just many vials with solutions containing DNA molecules, a huge number of them, that are induced to code all possible combinations of a particular sequence, such that one of the combinations is the solution to the problem to solve. DNA computing is a form of ''parallel computation'' where many different solutions are computed at the same time, in ''parallel'', using DNA molecules<ref name="Lewin">Lewin, D. I., "DNA computing". Computing in Science & Engineering 4 (3): 5–8, 2002.</ref>. One last example for computation that is not performed in silicon by traveling electrons can be found in '''optical | + | in silicon, it doesn't mean that it is the substrate of choice. Researchers have shown<ref name="Adleman">Adleman, L. M., "Molecular computation of solutions to combinatorial problems". Science 266 (5187): 1021–1024. 1994.</ref> that complex computation could also be done using DNA, in vials. Think about it: no electricity there; just many vials with solutions containing DNA molecules, a huge number of them, that are induced to code all possible combinations of a particular sequence, such that one of the combinations is the solution to the problem to solve. DNA computing is a form of ''parallel computation'' where many different solutions are computed at the same time, in ''parallel'', using DNA molecules<ref name="Lewin">Lewin, D. I., "DNA computing". Computing in Science & Engineering 4 (3): 5–8, 2002.</ref>. One last example for computation that is not performed in silicon by traveling electrons can be found in '''optical computing'''. The idea behind this concept (we really do not have optical computers yet, just isolated experiments showing its potential) is that electrons are replaced with photons, and these photons, which are faster than electrons, but much harder to control. |
So, in summary, we start seeing that computing, at least the medium chosen for where the computation takes place can be varied, and does not have to be silicon. Indeed, there exist many examples of computational devices that do not use electronics in silicon and can perform quite complex computation. In consequence, we should also be ready to imagine that new computers in ten, twenty or thirty years will not use semiconductors made of silicon, and may not use electrons to carry information that is controlled by transistors. In fact, it is highly probable that they won't [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predictions_made_by_Ray_Kurzweil]. | So, in summary, we start seeing that computing, at least the medium chosen for where the computation takes place can be varied, and does not have to be silicon. Indeed, there exist many examples of computational devices that do not use electronics in silicon and can perform quite complex computation. In consequence, we should also be ready to imagine that new computers in ten, twenty or thirty years will not use semiconductors made of silicon, and may not use electrons to carry information that is controlled by transistors. In fact, it is highly probable that they won't [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predictions_made_by_Ray_Kurzweil]. | ||
Revision as of 06:22, 3 September 2013
--© D. Thiebaut 08:10, 30 January 2012 (EST)
