Prospects for the Application of Nanotechnologies to the Computer System Architecture

Computer system architecture essentially influences the comfort of our everyday living. Developmental transition from electromechanical relays to vacuum tubes, from transistors to integrated circuits has significantly changed technological standards for the architecture of computer systems. Contemporary information technologies offer huge potential concerning miniaturization of electronic circuits. Presently, a modern integrated circuit includes over a billion of transistors, each of them smaller than 100 nm . Stepping beyond the symbolic 100 nm limit means that with the onset of the 21 century we have entered a new scientific area that is an era of nanotechnologies. Along with the reduction of transistor dimensions their operation speed and efficiency grow. However, the hitherto observed developmental path of classical electronics with its focus on the miniaturization of transistors and memory cells seems arriving at the limits of technological possibilities because of technical problems as well as physical limitations related to the appearance of new nano-scale phenomena as e.g. quantum effects.