Intel MESO: The Future Processor Will Have Quantum Essence

The limits of traditional processor manufacturing are getting ever closer. Intel had no alternative but to lay Moore's Law to rest, and it is sweating blood on its way to 10 nanometers. Another problem arises from the efficiency limit of modern chips, and according to the Santa Clara giant, the solution is to look beyond CMOS designs. This led Intel to join forces with researchers at the University of California (Berkeley) and the Berkeley Lab to develop a new logic device called Intel MESO, based on new quantum materials.

Anyone observing Intel's 'adventure' in 10nm would think the company is on fire. There is only one processor under the Cannon Lake architecture, and it's likely that mass production will be delayed until at least the second half of 2019. Meanwhile, chips for mobile devices keep growing, and it would be a gross error to ignore AMD's achievements with its Ryzen, Threadripper, and EPYC lines. However, that doesn't mean Intel is sitting idle. Its problems are identified, and within its package of possible solutions there are some very interesting developments, starting with the new logic device called Intel MESO, explored together with UC Berkeley and Berkeley Lab.

Intel MESO: A Little Spin for Our Chips

In relaxed terms, Intel MESO is what could completely replace CMOS technology (Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor), and by extension the classic transistor, within a decade. Its operation depends on multiferroic materials with quantum behavior at room temperature. According to the university researchers, in Intel MESO (short for Magneto-Electric Spin-Orbit) the bits 0 and 1 are defined by the 'up and down' states of the magnetic spin of the multiferroic material.

The good news is that Intel MESO drastically lowers the voltage needed to switch states. The university's numbers are more precise: the magneto-electric multiferroic exchange requires about 500 millivolts, a nice cut from the 3 volts average of a normal processor, and current predictions point to a floor of just 100 millivolts, between five and ten times less than what a CMOS transistor requires. The reduction in energy consumption is urgently needed, not only in the retail space, but also for the development of supercomputers, IoT devices, and portable hardware. With a bit of luck, within 10-15 years, Intel MESO chips could be among us.

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