Orac,
What Dudley Kingsnorth neglects to point out is:-
1/ New materials require new developments to achieve similar standards to the 22nm chips that are on the market this year. This costs; lots.
2/ New materials mean forgetting all the years of development in current materials technology and closing down those Fab plants currently being built, and those currently in use ($3 billion to $4 billion being the current normal price for a Fab plant), plus all the research for the 16nm chips due in 2013 and the 11nm chips due in approximately 2015.
3/ New materials mean a new design process is required for processors. New chemicals may be required for creating the chips. This requires modifications to existing chemical plants. Guess what? It takes time and vast amounts of money
4/ New materials in chips will probably mean slower processors; certainly for the next few years, maybe longer. Will Vista & Windows 7 run on them? This means companies will have to develop new software. Cost is billions. It may not even be possible to bring the speed back up to current speeds. Will the Typhoon be able to fly?
5/ The new materials will cost more than the current materials. Your computer, your washing machine, my FBW SE5 will all cost more
6/ All computerised items that currently exist will no longer be repairable if a chip goes. What you going to do when that dinkus in your A380 no longer works, and the new chips wont work with the current software? Rewrite the software? Will the chip be powerful enough to run it? Will the power supply be powerfull enough? Will the wiring be sufficient? Cost globally? Trillions
7/ All those designs on the board are no longer valid. Need to redesign everything
8/ Think of the waste having to recycle or throw away all those materials. Think of the energy costs.
I could go on, but hopefully you get the idea. Could the world afford it?
Last edited by hval; 24th Jan 2012 at 22:06.
Reason: I can't spell powurfool