Slashdot Mirror
Light-Emitting Particles Yield Faster Computing
schliz writes to tell us that researchers at the University of California San Diego are developing new transistors based on particles called 'excitons' in an attempt to speed up the interaction between computing and communications signals. "Excitons are formed by linking a negatively-charged electron with a positively-charged 'hole'. An exciton decays when the electron and hole combine, emitting a flash of light in the process. By joining exciton-based transistors to form several types of switches, the UCSD physicists were able to achieve switching times on the order of 200 picoseconds."
It's not faster for transistors, but it is good for: Switching between mediums that rely on photons and those that rely on electrons to transmit information. Possible future uses: faster fiber to ethernet signal conversion and conversion in future-technology of photon based processors. Basically like the guy said earlier, faster porn.
Roughly half my comments are never submitted. You may be reading the better half...
No. Instead, address the relevant question; how much time is necessary to convert a signal leaving a flop into an optical signal using conventional methods as opposed to this supposedly new technique?
As the submission states, this is...
an attempt to speed up the interaction between computing and communications signalsand as the linked story, poor as it is, points out...
While exciton-based computation may not be faster than electron-based circuits, the scientists expect to produce speed advantages in communications...I can only assume you have reading comprehension issues.
Lurking at the bottom of the gravity well, getting old