Is it time to move beyond zeroes and ones?

August 27, 2003 | Source: Embedded.com

The economics of semiconductor manufacturing now is forcing us to consider moving beyond binary to ternary and quaternary logic.

This would effectively increase a device’s information density without further shrinking the transistor structure. This option should be considered as we move ultimately into the sub-nanometer range, where we are already facing problems relating to the cost of the fabrication equipment and more fundamentally, quantum uncertainties.