The path taken by the research team is inspired by human nature. Superconducting circuits use various quantum effects to exchange information and signals in the form of very short pulses - just like the voltage pulses that run along human nerve pathways. Already anticipated as a vision in the 1950s by the great computer pioneer John von Neumann, the Thuringian researchers now have the technologies and the know-how to transfer this knowledge to microelectronic circuits.
The reason why the researchers are inspired by biology is simple: nature is unsurpassed in its energy efficiency. At 20 watts, the human brain uses only a fraction of the energy required by a computer to solve complex tasks. It achieves this thanks to a special feature: signals are exchanged in short pulses, so energy is not used constantly, but only when something needs to be communicated or controlled. This is exactly how the neuroNODE microelectronic components are supposed to work.
Project leader Professor Hannes Töpfer is confident that the components will not only be very fast, but also extremely energy-efficient: "Once our technology is used in data centers and then gradually improved, I estimate that we will only have to use half as much energy as we do today for the same computing power."
neuroNODE - microelectronics for the quantum computers of tomorrow
The development of a completely new generation of extremely powerful computers is currently being driven forward at full speed worldwide: Quantum computers. Once they are ready to function, exactly the kind of building blocks that are being researched in the neuroNODE project in Ilmenau will be needed to interconnect the multitude of components without interference. "If they don't exist," says Professor Töpfer, "it will be impossible to control the required number of quantum bits. They are therefore of existential importance for quantum computers. In this respect, our project is starting at just the right time." Technology planners in the USA assume that there will be no alternative to the use of optical superconducting electronic modules from around 2035.
