Research holds promise for energy saving, magnetic computers
1 min read
New research carried out by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, suggests future computers could rely on magnetic microprocessors instead of silicon ones.
The researchers believe nanometre size bar magnets could be used for all the switching required for both memory and logic in future devices, using up to 1million times less energy compared to cmos semiconductors.
According to Brian Lambson, a UC Berkeley graduate student in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, the chips, should they come to pass, will dissipate 18meV at room temperature, the minimum allowed by the Second Law of Thermodynamics (the Landauer limit). "That's one million times less energy per operation than consumed by today's computers," he said.
"Today, computers run on electricity; by moving electrons around a circuit, you can process information," explained Jeffrey Bokor, a UC Berkeley professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences. "A magnetic computer, on the other hand, doesn't involve any moving electrons. You store and process information using magnets, and if you make these magnets really small, you can basically pack them very close together so that they interact with one another. This is how we are able to do computations, have memory and conduct all the functions of a computer."
Bokor believes real circuits that operate right at the Landauer limit could soon be possible. "Even if we could get within one order of magnitude, a factor of 10, of the Landauer limit, it would represent a huge reduction in energy consumption for electronics. It would be absolutely revolutionary," he concluded.
