In reality, quite a bit of time has passed since we've heard of the next great leap in the (seemingly) never-ending journey towards quantum computing, but we're incredibly relieved to learn that at least someone is still out there, somewhere, pressing on. An international team of researchers have reportedly shown that they can "control the quantum state of a single electron in a silicon transistor, even putting the electron in two places at once." Essentially, the team is using tiny semiconductor transistors to "control the state of a quantum system," but there is still a long ways to go before any of this is meaningful. The crew managed to discover a few things by chance, yet to create a quantum computer, they would need to "position atoms of arsenic (or some other material) in the transistors more reliably." For those of you way too geeked out, fret not -- we'll let you know when all of this technobabble finally amounts to something.

[Thanks, Chris]

Like transistors? You must -- you're using a few million (or billion) right now just reading this sentence. But it's actually difficult to overstate the transistor's importance since its invention exactly 60 years ago today by super nerd gods John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley -- everything changed when solid state circuits were finally able to replace mechanical relays and vacuum tubes. There's little doubt electronics and technology as we know it today are only possible because of this fundamental discovery, although 60 years on we can only seem to navel gaze about what sorts of real jobs we'd all have if we weren't just spending our days obsessing about the gadgets these transistors power.

Intel might be oh-so-smug about its fancy new insulators and 45nm process, but doesn't have nothing on these upcoming atomic transistor dealios -- other than that whole "shipping" thing, of course. Scientists working at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts and compadres at the University of Colorado Boulder have proposed implementing a "Bose-Einstein condensate" to pull this off -- a super-cold gas cloud of atoms all in the same quantum state -- which is manipulated with three adjacent chambers that are created by trapping atoms with magnets or laz0rs. By swapping atoms between the two side chambers, and controlling that action with the center chamber, a behavior is created similar to that of an electronic field-effect transistor. Which is apparently a good thing. So yeah, the tech definitely flies over our heads, but if this works it sounds like it's a pretty big breakthrough in building atomic "circuits" some day by connecting basic atom elements and should hopefully keep Moore's law alive and well a few decades down the road.

[Thanks, Jeremy]

Tossing the all-too-common "world's fastest" label on your latest gig seems to happen entirely more frequently than necessary, but researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are make this claim legitimately. While we've seen those wee transistors ratchet up in speed, these gurus have shattered any previous records that may have been standing by crafting a transistor "with a frequency of 845GHz," which is "approximately 300GHz faster" that those built by "other research groups." While the terahertz barrier is arguably the "Holy Grail" of transistor speed, this leap forward doesn't leave them too far off from the ultimate goal. In addition to the pseudomorphic construction, the crew also used tinier components in order to "reduce the distance electrons have to travel, resulting in an increase of speed." Notably, the chip "only" runs at 765GHz while ticking along at room temperature, but chilling it to minus 55-degrees Celsius bumps it up to the record-holding 845GHz mark. Developers are quite pleased with the results, but as expected, aren't entirely satisfied, and seemingly can't wait to push the envelope a bit further and break their own record sometime soon.

Ok, so there's no wind in your hair or chance of an immediate fiery death, but a world speed record's a world speed record, and when it could also lead to better and cheaper cellphones and digital cameras, we're all ears. At least that's what could be coming down the pipe thanks to the speedy new transistors created by researchers at the University of Southampton. What's even better is that they've done it with just a simple modification to existing transistor technology, meaning it should be fairly easy to move it from the research stage to the production line. The speed gain was achieved by adding fluorine implants to the silicon layers of the transistor, making the transistor thinner and more effective, ultimately topping out at a speed of 110 GHz, leaving the previous record of 70 GHz in the nanoscopic dust.

[Via Slashdot]