Computerworld

Experts say that as Moore's Law reaches its limits, new technologies must be developed for supercomputers to continue to advance. Researchers say today's supercomputer development can be compared to the advent of complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology. The arrival of CMOS was disruptive, but it led to an expansive age of computing. The problem is "we don't have a technology that is ready to be adopted as a replacement for CMOS," says University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign professor William Gropp. Next-generation technologies could come from innovative materials "that are not anywhere near silicon, like the carbon nanotubes (CNTs)," says Argonne National Laboratory researcher Peter Beckman. Stanford University researchers are developing CNT-based digital circuits in an attempt to build the first computer using CNTs. The Stanford researchers say they emulated the MIPS instruction set, resulting in 10x benefit in a metric that considers performance and energy. The researchers synthesized their nanotubes by taking a quartz wafer, adding iron nanoparticles, and then heating it to 1,652 degrees Fahrenheit. "I'm really interested in things like emerging technologies because I want to know if CNTs are going to be able to save us in time," Gropp says. To read further, please visit http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9244179/Supercomputing_s_big_problem_What_s_after_silicon_.