TWO FRONTIERS OF ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING: SIZE AND FREQUENCY

This chapter discusses two limitations which restrict the design of modern electronic circuits. The first is how small a circuit can be made, which is ultimately governed by the size of the individual electrons inside a circuit. Physicists are probing this limit, and in doing so are finding ways to control with great precision the movement of single electrons. The second limitation is the operational frequency of electronic systems, which is currently restricted to frequencies below approximately 1 THz. At frequencies in the terahertz range, the concepts governing electronic circuits design start to merge with concepts from the field of photonics. Experiments which are probing these two limitations are discussed in the context of their implications for future microelectronic circuit design.