Grand Canyon University Web Resources

Oklahoma

State information from Encyclopedia.Com

Oklahoma Frequently Asked Questions

Provides answers to the most often asked questions about the state, as well as a mailing list and links to state information resources.

Oklahoma Symbols and Emblems

List of symbols, songs, flora and fauna associated with the state.

Surf Oklahoma

State reference source from the Oklahoma Department of Libraries.

YourOklahoma

Official state site with links to state agencies, information for visitors and residents, education, recreation, health and public safety, facts and history.

In article , Mike Rhodes says...
>
>On Sun, 11 Sep 2005 23:18:37 +0000 (UTC), "Stephen M. Adams"
> wrote:

[snip]

>Wikipedia said quantum tunneling is what causes such a power drain and
>heating in Very-large-scale integration (VLSI) electronics.

I take it you saw http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_tunneling.

> But I
>didn't see a reference to how our computers actually take advantage of
>it.

Actually, the reference was there, but rather oblique. If you never took a
course on semiconductor physics, you would probably not recognize it.

The reference was the sentence (on the same page) that "Quantum tunneling is the
quantum-mechanical effect of transitioning through a classically-forbidden
energy state."

Without this "transitioning through a classically-forbidden energy state", there
would be NO current flow in a transistor (except diode-flow). But without that,
NAND and NOR gates could not be built in solid-state, since they _are_
transistors.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transistor for more details, particularly where
it mentions "prohibited leap".

> There is the tunnel diode, but the source says conventional
>semi-conductor devices have surpased it in performance.

Click on Esaki Diode and the 'Discuss' link. There you will find the comment:

This article is wrong on at least one level; the switching 'frequency' is orders
of magnitude higher, development never stopped on TDs. In 1970, the Tektronix
S-52 Pulse Generator used a TD to achieve a 25ps rise time step, about a 14GHz
bandwidth. PPL sold TD generators that go down to 5ps. Nowadays you'd use a RTD
to go even faster. These whacko physics things are always orders of magnitude
faster than commercial cmos processes,

So no, it has NOT been outdated.

But this is getting off-topic.


--
---------------------------
Subducat se sibi ut haereat Deo
quidquid boni habet, tribuat illi a quo factus est.
(St. Augustine, Ser. 96)









((( s.r.c.b-s is a moderated group. All posts are approved by a moderator. )))
((( Read http://srcbs.org for details about this group BEFORE you post. )))

Gary McNees wrote:

> "Bob Felts" wrote in message
> news:143.48.18.05.679865000@srcbs.org...
[...]

> >
> > Note that you read something into the passage which simply isn't there:
> > "without first being regenerated". Where in this passage is that to be
> > found? It isn't -- you're engaging in circular argument, a fallacy that
>