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Science and technology
科學技術
New transistors
新型晶體管
Mechanical advantage
機械優勢
Two new types of transistor may lead to simpler, more efficient computers
兩種新型晶體管或許會導致更加便捷高效計算機的出現
WHEN baking a cake it helps to have all the ingredients within reach,
當你在燒烤蛋糕的時候，它有會讓所有的一切都變得觸手可及，
rather than wasting time and energy making frequent trips to the pantry.
而不是讓你在食品柜繁瑣的開關之間浪費時間與精力。
Something similar is true of the logic circuits in computers'microprocessors.
這也同樣會真正應用于電腦微處理器中的某些邏輯電路。
These could be made faster, and would consume less energy, if they were able to store information themselves instead of fetching it from separate memory chips or hard drives.
如果這些微處理器自己能夠儲存一些信息，用來取代從原來相互獨立的芯片或手工操作中獲得的信息，它們的速度將會變得更快，能耗將會更低。
The problem is that the transistors used to make logic circuits hold their electronic state, and therefore any data they contain, only when powered up.
問題是，用來制造邏輯電路的晶體管中保留著它們的電子態，因此當這些晶體管通電的時候，它們會包含任何可能的數據。
The choice engineers face is thus between supplying continuous power to a transistor, so that it can retain its memory,
因此，工程師們面臨的選擇就是要么對晶體管提供一個持續的電源，讓晶體管保持自己的記憶，
and ferrying data that would otherwise be lost to and from so-called non-volatile memory devices that do not require continuous power.
否則從所謂的非易失性半導體存儲器中傳輸的數據就有可能丟失，不過它不需要持續的電源。
Cracking this problem—so that transistors can act as their own non-volatile memory—would make all computers faster.
解決這個問題——以便于讓晶體管使用自身的非易失性半導體存儲器—將會讓所有的電腦運行速度更快。
It would be particularly valuable, though, for mobile devices.
雖然這對于移動設備來說，顯得特別昂貴。
These could be made smaller and lighter, since they would require fewer components.
不過移動設備因此可以做得更小，更輕盈，因為它們需要的元件更小。
And they could go for longer between charges.
并且兩次充電的時間間隔將會變得更長。
To this end, Hiroshi Mizuta of the University of Southampton, in England, and Tsuyoshi Hasegawa of the National Institute for Material Science in Tsukuba, Japan, are proposing a marriage between two novel types of transistor that could hardly be more different.
為此，英國南安普頓大學的Hiroshi Mizuta和日本筑波國立材料科學研究所的Tsuyoshi Hasegawa提出了將兩種完全不同新型材料混合起來。
One, the atomic transistor, draws on the latest advances in nanoscience.
其中一種就是原子晶體管，它利用了最新的納米科技。
The other, the mechanical transistor, sounds as if it has been lifted from the annals of the industrial revolution.
另外一種就是機械晶體管，這聽起來就像是從工業革命史冊中發掘出來的玩意兒。
The atomic transistor works, as its name suggests, by shuffling individual atoms around within the device.
原子晶體管的工作方式就像它名字所示的那樣，是通過移動該元件內部的單個原子進行工作的。
The atoms in question are copper, and the result of the shuffling is to create or destroy a conductive pathway between two crucial bits of the transistor, the source and the drain, thus switching the device on or off.
這里所說的原子指的是銅原子，移動的結果主是在晶體管的兩個十字位置構建或消除一個傳導通路，它的源極和漏極因此就會開啟或關閉。
That is possible because this part of the transistor is made of tantalum pentoxide, a material whose atoms are arranged in a lattice which contains holes large enough for copper atoms to squeeze through.
這是有可能實現的，因為這部分晶體管是由五氧化二鉭制造的—這種材料可以將它自身的原子排布在晶格中，這些晶格包括一些足夠大的孔，可以讓銅原子擠過去。
The mechanical transistor, more properly called a nano-electromechanical systems transistor, creates and destroys the connection between source and drain mechanically.
機械晶體管，更確切地可以稱之為納米電子機械系統晶體管，它可以在源極和漏極之間機械地構建或消除連接。
When a voltage is applied across two beamlike electrodes made of aluminium, which are separated by a gap of around 50 nanometres,
兩個柱狀的鋁電極間隔約50納米，當電壓加在這兩個電極之間時，它們就會相互通電，
charge builds up on each, creating an attractive force between them, until a critical point is reached.
在二者之間會形成一股引力，直至達到一個臨界點。
At that moment one of the electrodes flips towards the other, causing the two to make contact.
在達到臨界點的那一刻，其中一個電極就會移向另一個電極，這兩個電極就會形成通路。
This closes the circuit and turns the transistor on. Apply the opposite charge and the electrode flips back, breaking the circuit.
這樣就會接通電路，打開晶體管。利用相反的電荷，電極就會復位，進而斷開電路。
What makes these two very different types of transistor attractive is that both the copper and the aluminium stay put when the power is turned off.
這兩種完全不同類型的晶體管如此吸引人的地方就在于斷電后，如何讓銅原子和鋁電極待在原地。
They can thus act as memories as well as processors.
它們可以應用于儲存芯片和處理器。
The on state represents one type of binary digit and the off state represents the other.
開的狀態表示二進制中的一個數字，關的狀態可以表示另一個數字。
Dr Mizuta and Dr Hasegawa are therefore using the novel transistors to try to make the world's first non-volatile processor chip.
Mizuta博士和Hasegawa博士因此都在使用新型的晶體管，力圖制造出世界上第一個非易失性處理器芯片。
Ideally, such a chip would have only one sort of transistor, since that would mean it was much easier to manufacture.
理想的這種芯片將只有一種晶體管類型，因為這意味著它將會更加容易制造。
However, transistors come in two varieties, n-type and p-type.
不過，晶體管卻有兩種，一種是N型，一種是P型。
Both are needed in a logic circuit, but atomic devices can be only n-type.
邏輯電路都需要這兩種晶體管，不過在原子設備中，只需要N型。
The alternatives, then, are to make the circuit entirely out of NEMS transistors,
那么另一個方案就是完全用NEMS晶體管制造電路，
or to mix the two by using atomic devices where an n-type transistor is needed and NEMS ones where a p-type is required.
或者是將利用N型晶體管的原子設備和利用P型晶體管的NEMS晶體管混合起來。
Dr Mizuta and Dr Hasegawa have opted for a mixture,
博士Mizuta和Hasegawa博士選擇了二者的混合，
because atomic transistors are much smaller than NEMS ones, and the saving of space outweighs the awkwardness of mixing them together.
因為原子晶體管比NEMS更加小巧，這樣節省的空間就會消除二者的混合的尷尬。
If their recipe works, it will mean far fewer electronic trips to the pantry and a quicker baking time for whatever answer the new chip is trying to cook up.
如果他們的方案成功的話，這意味著食品柜中的開關將會大大減小，實現更短的烹飪時間。
