[HN Gopher] First 2D, non-silicon computer developed
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First 2D, non-silicon computer developed
Author : giuliomagnifico
Score : 134 points
Date : 2025-06-12 18:26 UTC (4 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.psu.edu)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.psu.edu)
| yodon wrote:
| WTF is up with that illustration at the top of the article?
| gfody wrote:
| someone tries to explain cmos to the graphics dept
| adastra22 wrote:
| To an AI prompt more likely.
| DavidSJ wrote:
| Some attempt to visually represent molybdenum disulfide and
| tungsten diselenide with the keys of a QWERTY keyboard.
| mjmas wrote:
| Which if it was done properly would have WSe2 and MoS2 rather
| than seemingly random keys
| close04 wrote:
| It shows just the symbols of the elements (W, Se, Mo) and
| the number 2, not the compounds. The "W", "S", "M", and "2"
| characters are in the correct place on a QWERTY keyboard,
| and they appended the necessary additional characters to
| complete the symbols as needed, even if the "e" in Se and
| "o" in Mo aren't in the correct spot on the layout.
| TacticalCoder wrote:
| AI but it's kinda cool. Computers books in the old days used to
| have crazy representations of computers and all kinds of stuff.
| I don't mind this one.
| bobmcnamara wrote:
| If the frame is made of atoms what are the keys and display
| made out of? Quarks?
| a3w wrote:
| Yupp, I stopped reading and closed the browser tab when I saw
| that. Then reconsidered, to find the original source.
| muglug wrote:
| > at frequencies up to 25 kilohertz
|
| How high could this technique go?
| magicalhippo wrote:
| From the abstract[1]:
|
| _This enabled circuit operation below 3 V with an operating
| frequency of up to 25 kHz, which was constrained by parasitic
| capacitances_
|
| I would guess process improvements would help a _lot_ towards
| lowering those parasitics. So I wouldn 't take this initial
| attempt as a guide for ultimate speed.
|
| Since this is 2D materials, a capacitor is a dielectric
| sandwiched by two conductors and capacitance scales linearly
| with area, I would assume just scaling things down would help
| immensely with parasitic capacitance. Changing materials or
| process could also change the dielectric constant which also
| affects the capacitance linearly.
|
| Paper is sadly not open access, so I can't check if they
| mention this or have done some theoretical peak calculations or
| something. Would indeed be interesting to know.
|
| [1]: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08963-7
| Razengan wrote:
| A small step towards Sophons
| 9dev wrote:
| Well--I, for one, welcome our new Trisolaran overlords!
| l3x4ur1n wrote:
| Traitor
| lowwave wrote:
| Well with all the sabre-rattling by Kratsios on space time
| control, Sophons is not that far fetched.
| numpad0 wrote:
| > molybdenum disulfide for n-type transistors and tungsten
| diselenide for p-type transistors
|
| Isn't this rather unusual?
| NegativeK wrote:
| Yes? But it's been in research for a decade or two, based on a
| quick search.
|
| It's confusing to me because moly d is a very common lubricant,
| even for home uses.
| avmich wrote:
| Isn't it a good lubricant because it's easily split into 2D
| layers?
| m-watson wrote:
| Something that is nice with MoS2 and the others are
| transition metal dichalcogenides and have some beneficial
| physical properties like a natural electronic bandgap, unlike
| silicon.
| sitkack wrote:
| https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/08/16-bit-risc-v-proces...
|
| Modern microprocessor built from complementary carbon nanotube
| transistors https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1493-8
| RayfromBoston wrote:
| I wonder how this compares in speed and capabilities to photonic
| computers
| ConradKilroy wrote:
| I was wondering that too!
| justinclift wrote:
| Wonder if these materials are the kind of thing the "make your
| own integrated circuits" people would be able to use?
|
| ie: https://sam.zeloof.xyz/category/semiconductor/
| znpy wrote:
| Isn't tungsten much much more expensive than silicon and harder
| to work with?
| IsTom wrote:
| Does its price really matter for amounts used in chips?
| Valgrim wrote:
| Molybdenum and tungsten both have melting point much higher than
| silicon, Maybe these circuits could be a good candidate for Venus
| rovers?
| kxndnddn wrote:
| I don't see how that would be relevant since the melting
| temperature of Silicon is already _significantly_ higher than
| temperatures on Venus can reach outside of reentry
| chasil wrote:
| I had never considered this.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-instruction_set_computer
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