What could be done with a transistor capable of n-states?
With the advent of molecular switches and nanotech as well as optical and/or quantum based computing we may soon be presented with the opportunity to think about algorithms and software engineering in completely different ways. With limited fuzzy logic implemented in hardware like analog, we may be able to take wholly new approaches to many of the most complex problems.
1 comment:
The biggest benefit I can think of off the top of my head is drastic increases in data density for solid state drives - If you're operating in a trinary, quaternary, octal, hex, etc, for each transistor, then you can get exponentially larger data sets in the same number of transistors.
This of course, assumes that the transistor ranges are reliable in the workload that it's placed under, etc. - otherwise it's useless - so while a multistate transistor may be functional up to n states, it will likely only be stable in a far lower number of states in a reliable fashion until precision becomes the hallmark of transistor development, rather than size.
Post a Comment