Can we have sub atomic transistors (details inside)

What do you mean can we “have” them? Do they exist? The testing indicates that they probably do.

@Dutchess_III Can it be invented?

Oh, I don’t know.

All electronic components, even wires, relies on passing electrons from one molecule to another. Transistors involve the use of dissimilar semiconductors, either PNP or NPN, so the smallest possible transistor is three molecules.

However, due to it’s small size, it’s ability to carry current without burning out would be quite limited. As electricity is generated any time you have a conductor, a magnetic field, and relative motion between the two, and as the Earth has a magnetic field, odd are that such a small transistor would be fried the first time it’s moved.

That also assumes that the transistors are hosed in a perfect insulator and isolated from each other. One issues computers have is that transistors close to each other get some signal bleed and crossover, which limits how small we can make usable transistors. At the moment, that lower limit is 10 nanometers for full circuits and 4nm for a single transistor where bleedthrough isn’t an issue, though it’s not cost-effective for them to go below 14nm using current manufacturing techniques.

That said, we may transcend transistors and make quantum computers that rely on other things that perform the same function. Transistors replaced vacuum tubes, so who’s to say something won’t replace transistors?

The answer is no, you cannot. I think what you are alluding to is quantum computing where there are multiple states for each “bit” That is possible and eventually will probably be done.

@ARE_you_kidding_me No. I was just wondering if we can use something smaller than electrons and atoms. Like a neutrino or quark based computing.

Quantum computers do not use what we know of as “transistors” though as they operate on an entirely different principle. They have something else to perform the same function, but at the current time, qubit technology is still in it’s infancy, relaying on superconductors that require cryogenic temperatures to operate.

Whether what we use now in the laboratory will evolve into what is used when quantum computers actually hit the market or whether they will invent something else in the meantime is something we won’t know until it happens. Given the issues with the current prototypes, I see them changing considerably as we discover High Temperature Superconductors with different properties than the materials currently used in qubits.

Also, this may interest you.