Get the latest tech news

A 32-bit processor made with an atomically thin semiconductor


It’s slow and inefficient, but the semiconductor is only one molecule thick.

On Wednesday, a team of researchers from China used a paper published in Nature to describe a 32-bit RISC-V processor built using molybdenum disulfide instead of silicon as the semiconductor. It can only add single bits at a time and is limited to kilohertz clock speeds, but it is capable of executing the full RISC-V 32-bit instruction set thanks to nearly 6,000 individual transistors. That said, they don't expect this technology to replace silicon; instead, they view it as potentially filling some niche needs, like ultra-low-power processing for simple sensors.

Get the Android app

Or read this on r/technology

Read more on:

Photo of thin semiconductor

thin semiconductor

Photo of bit processor

bit processor