Questioning the limits of Moore’s law
The career path of Dr. Rudy Wojtecki spans from sequencing mitochondrial DNA, to use of atomic force microscopy, to NMR studies and on to applying his polymer chemistry skillset to help push the boundaries of nanoscale science at IBM. In this episode, Paolo and Rudy discuss how technology is pushing boundaries to produce semiconductor features into the low nanometer size range, which in turn brings up questions about the limits of Moore’s law. Tune in to learn about the diverse and interesting work our guest does at his dream job.
Bringing Chemistry to Life · Rudy Wojtecki, Paolo Braiuca
Show Notes
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The unstoppable progress in computational power that we have experienced in the last few decades, and that has changed the world as we know it, is almost entirely due to the relentless efforts of cramming an increasing number of transistors in microprocessors. Moore’s law, predicting a linear increase in microchip transistor density, doubling every two years, has been consistently proven right, but we are now approaching physical limitations as resolution breaking the 5 nm barrier is quickly approaching molecular dimensions. This is why many think Moore’s law is dead and this is why Rudy Wojtecki and the conventions-challenging teams at IBM Almaden Research Center are working on developing new paradigms for the computers of the future.
Rudy is a polymer chemist by background and a true multidisciplinary scientist at heart. His work on self-assembling polymers and surface chemistry is innovating the way microchips are manufactured, and the way research is done at Almaden is providing a brilliant example of different scientific disciplines working together to accelerate progress.
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