![]() ![]() ![]() This may see future PCBs incorporating photonic channels that provide high speed and electrical isolation. Optoelectronics will most likely involve traditional silicon devices that interface with other devices via optical links for the next few decades. If one thing is clear, the future of electronic devices will be in optoelectronics, as achieving high bandwidths is easier with light than with the electrical current. Researchers determine the theoretical limit for optoelectronic devices Of course, in the case of CPUs, the maximum frequency of operation depends on the length of time taken for a signal to propagate through the CPU, which has estimates of around 22GHz). The same applies to operating frequency in that the fastest CPU to date was 8.429GHz (AMD FX), using liquid nitrogen cooling, but this is nowhere near the theoretical maximum frequency of electronic circuits in general, which can well exceed 300GHz (terahertz is believed to be the upper bound). Even though the latest transistor technology is in the 5nm range, this is still several orders of magnitude larger than the atoms that make up transistors. We also know that the speed of electrical wavefronts in a wire limits the maximum operation frequency and can thus determine the highest bandwidth possible.īut how close are we to these current limits? As it turns out, researchers are very far away from any physical limits that would prevent a device from being reduced in size or operating at a higher speed. Whether a device at a theoretical limit is commercially practical or not remains to be seen, but it turns out that we can calculate what these limits are.įor example, the smallest transistor made from a semiconductor cannot be smaller than the physical elements that it is made from, and so you may find that the smallest transistor will be a single atom in size (most likely a bi-directional switch controlled using a photon). Many thought that going beyond the 20nm barrier would introduce too many challenges that would make semiconductors at that scale too expensive, but looking at current research, we see that there are devices on the 5nm scale already in production.īut whether it is the maximum operating frequency of a CPU, the smallest size of a transistor, or the lowest voltage at which transistors can operate, there are indeed physical limits that will eventually be reached. It seems that no matter how many times the media states that we are at the end of Moore’s Law, researchers continue to find new methods to make devices smaller and faster. How close are we to theoretical limits in electronics, what did the researchers determine, and what options will engineers have looking forward as these limits are reached? Recently, researchers have calculated the theoretical limit on the speed at which optoelectronic devices can operate. ![]()
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