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After a breathless race through the '80s and '90s, desktop computer clock speeds have spent the last decade languishing around the 3 gigahertz mark. That stagnation in processing speeds has prompted scientists to debate whether it's time to move beyond semiconductors -- and what better place to debate than in the journal Science? Ars Technica gives a top-down overview of several future paths laid out in the journal's latest issue by researchers such as Thomas Theis and Paul Solomon of IBM.

The main issue comes from voltages being forced to scale down as ever-tinier transistors are developed. That can lead to heat and power use problems, as well as slower switching and clock speeds. Chips have typically compensated by favoring size and power over speed, but scientists suggest several possible new approaches.


http://www.popsci.co...mputings-future