The digital chip industry is encountering significant challenges as it pushes the boundaries of transistor miniaturization. As transistors approach atomic scales, they face both physical and economic constraints that threaten to stall the progress historically described by Moore’s Law—the observation that the number of transistors on a chip doubles approximately every two years, leading to exponential improvements in performance and reductions in cost per transistor.
On the physical level, quantum effects at these scales are more pronounced, causing problems such as electron leakage along with needing sub zero temperatures to control the quantum computer.
Economically, the cost of building and operating state-of-the-art semiconductor manufacturing facilities (fabs) has increased dramatically. Performance challenges also become apparent as the miniaturization limit is approached. Improvements in clock speed and power efficiency have not kept pace with historical trends, slowing overall computing power availability
In response to these challenges, there is growing interest in post-Moore paradigms, including quantum computers, neuromorphic chips, and photonic computing.