{"id":1797,"date":"2022-01-16T21:06:23","date_gmt":"2022-01-16T20:06:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/?post_type=unit&p=1797"},"modified":"2022-01-16T21:10:15","modified_gmt":"2022-01-16T20:10:15","slug":"examples-in-electronics","status":"publish","type":"unit","link":"https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/unit\/examples-in-electronics\/","title":{"rendered":"Examples in electronics"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this section we want to understand how nanotechnology impacts electronic applications. A good way to approach this topic, is to examine how computers became so powerful over a short period of time. So, the computer basically is built from several \u201cchips\u201d, which are also called \u201cintegrated circuits\u201d. We will discuss them in more detail later. For now, we just need to know that the key elements of those chips are \u201ctransistors\u201d. These are the building blocks, which allow us to control if an electrical current is flowing through a certain conducting line or not. So, there are two cases for the computer: electrical current or no electrical current. This is interpreted as 1 and 0 \u2013 the bi<\/strong>nary digits<\/strong>, the so called \u201cbits\u201d. Those two numbers encode all the information a computer is working with. Rephrased, a computer breaks every problem down to the degree, where he just must handle those 1s and 0s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Important<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Basic concept of a computer<\/strong><\/p>\n

A computer breaks every problem down to the point, where he just must deal with 1s and 0s. This is done by controlling if a current is flowing (1) or not (0).<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

After that discussion we can understand that an increasing number of transistors on the chip comes along with more computing capacity or in general a faster data processing. Obviously, those requirements became more and more important in our modern world, which led to intense research and development of those chips. This seems very logic now, but back in the days this trend wasn\u00b4t obvious. So, it is even more outstanding, that Gordon E. Moore predicted not just the increasing number of transistors on a chip, but he quantified it correctly. He stated that the number of transistors an on integrated circuit doubles approximately every two years. The figure below proofs that his prediction turned out to be correct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Important<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Moore\u00b4s Law<\/strong><\/p>\n

The number of Transistors gives a computer chip its processing speed. The number of those transistors on a chip is doubling approximately every two years.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Basically, everything you are doing on your computer right now \u2013 moving the cursor, scroll through this text \u2013 is done by simple summations, comparison of data and short-term-storage of data. The \u201cCPU\u201d (C<\/strong>entral P<\/strong>rocessing U<\/strong>nit) is the building block, which takes care of this. Of course, there are huge numbers of transistors involved too. So, let us also have a look at the impact of Moore\u00b4s Law in this area and what kind of computer-features have been implemented in this context over the years. The first chip was developed in 1971 by Intel. The Intel 4004 with 2300 transistors on it and a clock rate of 108kHz was able to take care of all the problems for programmable calculating machine. The clock rate gives an idea of the speed the data is processed with. Later, you will see that the kHz-clock rate is very low in comparison to today\u00b4s standards. Yet in the following years the efficiency improved rapidly. In 1972 the Intel 8008 had 3500 transistors and 200 kHz; the Intel 8080 two years later already had 6000 transistors with a rate of 2 MHz. The 5 MHz chip with 6500 Transistors on the Intel 8085 was the most efficient in 1976. Up to this point the application was most likely traffic light switching or steering of production machines. In 1982, the development of computer-chips with a performance of 25 MHz enabled the breakthrough of the desktop-PCs. And when we think about this, the word \u201cdesktop\u201d describes the important development very well at that point: Now it was possible to concentrate enough efficiency on such a small space that the \u201ccalculating machine\u201d fitted on top of a desk. This was not always customary. The next important period was 1990 to 1999, when Intel developed chips, which reached the 1-GHz-mark. In the years of 2000 until 2008 a new way of increasing the chip performance came up. Additionally, to higher numbers of transistors it is possible to implement more than one \u201ccore\u201d on a chip. One core can work on a single task at a time with the specific clock rate. Latter is defined by the number of transistors. So, if you add another core multiple tasks can be processed simultaneously. We can compare this to a situation, where one is waiting for his ordered drink at the bar. If only one bartender is taking care of the whole line, it will take much more time compared to the same situation with two bartenders. However, Intel reached 3.33 GHz with two cores in 2006. The number of cores increased in 2008 to 2013 from two to four. Up to this day the core-number in the high-end-segment of available chips increased to 16. So, for example this explains how all of today\u2019s great and realistic videogames run so fluid and without a problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Remember<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Features of computers over the years<\/strong><\/p>\n

The CPU is processing all the data in the background, what makes your computer work. The performance of those chips improved drastically. In the beginning it was enough to control traffic lights, nowadays computers can run video games or movies very fluid without a problem.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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So, until now we gained knowledge about the miniaturization and performance-optimization of hard-ware for computers. Yet this is not a discussion, which is only interesting for specialists. The huge impact on our daily life becomes clear, when we look at the situation 30 years ago and now. In Europe at least most of the people had a telephone in their home. But sometimes making phone calls was a difficult task, because you have to be at home to call someone and you basically needed to be lucky to be home, when you received a call. At this time phone boxes have been a solution to this problem. Consequently, the people were able to call each other when they were not indoors. Except the phone booth was occupied, you didn\u2019t have coin money, you forgot the phone number or you simply couldn\u00b4t find a phone box. With regards to all of those disadvantages no explanation should be needed for the triumphant advance of smartphones. The important aspect right here is that the usage of phones gone beyond making phone calls. Basically, the development we discussed in the beginning of the topic came so far, that we carry a million times the computing power of earlier PCs in our pockets today. Hence it is safe to say that nanotechnology made it possible to concentrate all of that efficiency in chips with the size of the cent coin, with which you actuated the phone booth back in the days.<\/p>\n

Besides the enormous computing power of the modern miniaturized devices, you can find multiple sensors on the same small amount of space. Therefore, let us have a quick look at what kind of sensors there are and what they are doing. Position sensors tell your smartphone its location. In this regard the Magnetometer always points to north, the proximity sensor turns your screen black when you are taking a phone call, so that you don\u2019t touch anything accidentally on your display and the GPS (Global Positioning System) uses satellites to locate you. Another type of sensors is analysing your motion by detecting speed and rotation. The gyroscope tells the device where it is pointing in a three-dimensional room. Accelerometers are sensing the vibration and acceleration tilt, what makes it possible to see your speed in navigation apps or switching the phones orientation when it is turned. Moreover, a bunch of environmental sensors are common in modern smart phones. Their function is pretty much self-explanatory: Thermometer, Hygrometer, Barometer, ambient-light sensing. We can imagine that a pretty clear picture of our everyday life is painted, when a bunch of those sensors work together. On the other hand, this comes along with a whole bunch of advantages. For instance, when the Gyroscope and the magnetometer work together, tilts and turns can be added to maps, which is giving us improved navigation in the future. A practical insight in all the sensors you carry with you is given by the app \u201cphyphox\u201d. The app allows you to perform physical experiments directly with your smartphone. For example, if you ever asked yourself in an elevator how fast your motion actually is, this application helps you with it. By making use of the barometer in your smartphone, the atmospheric pressure and its variation can be detected, which allows a conclusion regarding the speed. Performing different experiments really gives an idea of how accurate your smartphone is detecting your surroundings and how it was able to unite a lot of things like cards and fitness trackers on a single screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Important<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Current sensor examples<\/strong><\/p>\n

Today\u00b4s smartphones are equipped with a lot of nanosized sensors, which enable the high functionality of the devices.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_vibebp_attr":"","_vibebp_dimensions":"","_vibebp_responsive_height":"","_vibebp_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"module-tag":[],"class_list":["post-1797","unit","type-unit","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/unit\/1797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/unit"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/unit"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1797"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/unit\/1797\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1826,"href":"https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/unit\/1797\/revisions\/1826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"module-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lms.nanoproject.eu\/lms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/module-tag?post=1797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}