As I begin my journey to understand the world of quantum computing, I will share my learning via a series of blogs. This part is to understand the history of computing to understand the evolution of computing and why is there a need of Quantum computing at all.
Evolution of Semiconductor technology for computing
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Semiconductor technology forms the base of computing at the physical level. It has transistor gates that use multiple transistors in various combinations to manipulate information. The information it processes is called “bits” which has 2 discrete values — 0 and 1.
The evolution of the semiconductor IC began with the 1947 transistor, followed by the 1958 invention of the integrated circuit, which combined multiple components on one chip. Subsequent advancements lead to miniaturisation, have increased transistor density and performance exponentially through generations of Small Scale Integration (SSI), Medium Scale Integration (MSI), Large Scale Integration (LSI), Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI), and Ultra Large Scale Integration (ULSI).
Today, we are looking at 5 nanometer (nm) chips. In simple terms it is the density of the chip where the distance between the transistors is 5 nm. Its called MOSFET (metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor). These are used to drive innovations in…