McGill physicists discover a new state of matter that could extend Moore's law

Dr. Guillaume Gervais, director of McGill’s Ultra-Low Temperature Condensed Matter Experiment Lab, has found a previously unknown type of electron crystal that could have dramatic implications in electronics.

He has discovered quasi-three-dimensional electron crystals may make it possible to continue cramming more transistors into a single chip. This could help extend Moore's law. This describes the trend that Since the invention of the integrated circuit in 1958, the number of transistors that can be placed inexpensively on an integrated circuit has increased exponentially, doubling approximately every two years.



According to Gervais,

“This issue is academic, but it’s not just academic. The same semiconductor
materials we’re working with are currently used in cellphones and other
electronic devices. We need to understand quantum effects so we can use them to
our own advantage and perhaps reinvent the transistor altogether. That way,
progress in electronics will keep happening .”