It is just insane how freaking tiny we can make things. The fact that we have computers at all is simply incredible.
WIthout transistors, we’d be stuck with relay computers. They do have their charm.
The more I learn, the less I understand
Just gonna force some electricity through some rocks and… oh! hey, look it’s a computer
i know some of these words
Transistors are the basic building blocks of computer chips. Theyre essentially things which can be ‘on’ or ‘off’.
The traditional transistors use something called a p-n junction. To make one of these, we need to carefully implant impurity atoms into silicon in a very specific concentration gradient.
When transistors get very small, it becomes extremely difficult to make this concentration gradient just right. Which is a limits how small the p-n junction can be.
The new gate-all-around transistors are shaped completely different, and are more like 3D structures than 2D patterns. And, crucially, they dont require p-n junctions. Which means we’re not limited by how small we can make concentration gradients, but instead by how small we can make these structures. Which is a lot smaller.
The fact that China is getting better at this means that high-performance computer chips may get cheaper as production wont be dominated by TSMC/ASML.
I think it means China will make Ram cheaper, but not yet. Also they are upsetting the technological equilibrium, but that’s expected as the West invests its societal surplus into creating a new realm of aristocracy.
Sadly more RAM just means more data centers these days.
Years away but they’ll catch up quick if Taiwan gets absorbed by China which is looking more and more likely. Taiwan has lost faith in American backing for obvious reasons and the nationalist party is gaining steam for a deal with China.
