{"id":4829,"date":"2017-11-16T14:30:33","date_gmt":"2017-11-16T14:30:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/?p=4829"},"modified":"2017-12-11T14:46:02","modified_gmt":"2017-12-11T14:46:02","slug":"micro-machines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/?p=4829","title":{"rendered":"Micro machines"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The advent of the integrated circuit more than 50 years ago revolutionized the electronics industry, ushering in an era of rapid advancement in computing. In the intervening half century, we now have smartphones in our pockets that are more powerful than the earliest computers.<\/p>\n

Since then, there has been a race to make these microchips smaller while achieving more computing power with lower costs and lower power dissipation. Intel co-founder Gordon Moore predicted early on that the number of transistors \u2013 the miniature electronic components that amplify or switch electric signals in microchips \u2013 would double on integrated circuits approximately every two years. Moore\u2019s law, as it is known, has held true.<\/p>\n

But engineers are beginning to reach the limit of how far they can scale down the transistors in integrated circuits with silicon technology, which has dominated the industry for so long. Researchers are exploring other materials and methods that may be better suited toward advancing micro and nanoscale electronics technology.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really reaching the end of the scaling predicted in Moore\u2019s law,\u201d said Mike Hamilton, director of the Alabama Micro\/Nano Science and Technology Center at Auburn University and associate professor of electrical and computer engineering. \u201cResearchers in the Alabama Micro\/Nano Science and Technology Center are working to scale a little bit further, develop more efficient devices for computing systems and compute faster with less power. We\u2019re also looking at new materials, devices and technologies altogether to be able to do something that\u2019s parallel to that. That\u2019s called More Than Moore or Beyond Moore technologies.\u201d<\/p>\n