Re: IBM - New SUB-Nanometer STACKED Chip

On Tue, 6/30/2026 12:06 PM, c186282 wrote:
> On 6/30/26 09:51, Mr. Man-wai Chang wrote:
>> On 6/30/2026 5:14 PM, c186282 wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Can you fabricate 0.000000...0000000001 nm chips?
>>>>
>>>> Is zero the seal or wall? :)
>>>
>>>     Um, pretty quick you get to ATOMS ... and, for any
>>>     normal electronics, that's IT.
>>
>>
>> You cannot have 0.000000....00 nm chip.
>>
>> That's a void, empty, nothing. :)
> 
>   "Electronics" are now about literal atom-thick structures.
>   Can't go any smaller.
> 
>   Any better future stuff will have to exploit quantum
>   effects - get more bang for yer nanometer. Alas quantum
>   stuff isn't as deterministic as bulk matter devices
>   and suffer from the uncertainty principle.

But only if there are properties that actually have some use.

A quick Google tells me there is a thing called "spintronics"
which can make insulators. The materials are "foreign" to
current semiconductors (so the materials may not "play nice"
with the rest of the substrate). And having an insulator,
does not give me a switching transistor.

Historically, we've made good use of quantum mechanical "tunneling",
which is finding a way underneath energy barriers. We have one
afternoon lab using one of these (these diodes are used in
time domain reflectometry for the nice sharp edges). I put mine right
across the terminals of an HP gray-plastic power supply, the one with
the course and fine controls. And you can use the power supply
as a curve tracer, and walk the diode right up to the
point where it switches. The power supply has amazing
characteristics at DC (not so much at HF). And that was
a fun afternoon of farting around.

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunnel_diode

And that's an illustration of an effect, it's not me predicting
they'll run right out and make something out of that.

This is another example of tunneling.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_memory#Fowler%E2%80%93Nordheim_tunneling

   "The Fowler-Nordheim tunneling effect is reversible, so electrons
    can be added to or removed from the floating gate, processes
    traditionally known as writing and erasing."

There's no uncertainty principle there, you need enough electrons
to maintain noise immunity.

If there is some property that can be used, and is not a flaky pastry,
then it will be introduced slowly. There is too much money involved
for this to be just "science", it's "business" too. And that affects
how you do it.

     Paul