B12
6153
Disclaimer — This paper partially fulfills a writing requirement for first year (freshman) engineering students at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering. This paper is a student, not a professional, paper. This paper is based on publicly available information and may not be provide complete analyses of all relevant data. If this paper is used for any purpose other than these authors’ partial fulfillment of a writing requirement for first year (freshman) engineering students at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering, the user does so at his or her own risk.
Matthew Salemi, mjs255@pitt.edu
, Mena, 4:00
Kelby McWherter, kem208@pitt.edu
, Mena 4:00
Revised Proposal This paper will primarily be discussing having quantum computers replace classical computers in order to overcome the current deceleration and imminent halt of increase in processing power. In 1965, Gordon Moore, cofounder of Intel, made a claim about the future of digital electronics. He stated that the number of transistors that could be crammed into an integrated circuit would double approximately every two years [1]. This axiom has become known throughout the industry of electronic and computer engineering as Moore’s Law. For decades, this claim held true. However, in recent years, growth has begun to slow.
Transistors have shrunken to the size where they are only a few dozen nanometers in length, and are beginning to hit the fundamental physical limits that oppose them. The potential for increased transistor shrinkage will be limited by effects like quantum tunneling, which is when electrons are able to pass through extremely thin barriers, even if they shouldn’t be able to. Because of these fundamental limits, if humanity wishes to increases its computational potential, they must look away from classical computers.
Quantum computers are a possible alternative. Instead of falling to the pitfalls of quantum tunneling that classical computer succumb to, quantum computers take advantage of quantum effects to perform calculations. Instead of relying on bits (binary digits), which can only exist in a state of 1 or 0, quantum computing uses qubits (quantum bits). Instead of being restricted to a simple state of 1’s and 0’s, qubits can exist in a superposition of many different simultaneous states, allowing for multiple calculations to be done at the same time, giving them the potential to be much faster, and solve much more complex algorithms than classical computers [2].
However, this significantly increased processing power comes at a cost.
Even after being incredibly difficult to design and build, quantum computers still have obstacles to overcome. By nature, quantum computers are not guaranteed to be accurate.
When the quantum state of a qubit is observed, its spin will collapse into either up or down, essentially reducing the fancy qubit back to a digital bit. Therefore the programmers and engineers that work with these computers have to run additional trials and add mathematical traps in their algorithms to ensure that the computer is returning the correct results. In addition, quantum computers are programmed entirely differently from classical computers, making them difficult to implement on a wide scale. Beyond just the technical problems, there lies ethical issues in quantum computing. Quantum computing is especially effective in the area of complex algorithms, making it a highly potent tool in breaking encryptions, putting vast amounts of sensitive data at risk.
The structure of the paper will introduce the concept of
Moore’s law, and how classical computers are affected by it.
Following this, the basics of quantum computing and its advantages will be discussed, followed by its disadvantages.
By following this structure, it will become clear that quantum computing is the future of computer engineering, and needs to be heavily focused on in order to overcome its challenge.
A. Huang, “The Death of Moore’s Law Will Spur
Innovation,” IEEE Spectrum , 31-Mar-2015. [Online].
Available at: http://spectrum.ieee.org/semiconductors/design/the-death-ofmoores-law-will-spur-innovation. [Accessed: 29-Jan-2016].
This insight provided by Huang gives us a look at how, as we approach the quantum limit of Moore’s Law, the competition for companies to produce quantum computers will increase. This article discusses more the economical component to what is going to happen once quantum computers become reality. We will use the information provided to formulate how some of the physical restrictions of quantum computers, like needing extremely cold space to operate, will be solved by companies who want to create the
University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering 1
1/29/2016

Salemi
McWherter most practical and cost-effective solutions to the problems quantum computers still face.
D. D. Majumder and S. Karan, “Quantum computing: A nano scale information processing in minds and machines,” 2011
International Conference on Recent Trends in Information
Systems , 2011.
This article presented at the 2011 International
Conference on Recent Trends in Information Systems details the precise mathematical breakdown of how qubits behave.
While the exact mathematics are slightly out of the scope of this paper, we will still be able to apply their findings to our topic of how quantum computers work. Majumder and
Karan’s article proves how qubits can exist in several simultaneous states at the same time.
G. E. Moore, “Cramming More Components Onto Integrated
Circuits,” Electronics , vol. 38, no. 8, 1965.
This article, written in 1965 by Gordon E. Moore, the cofounder of Intel, discusses the potential exponential growth over the next 10 years in the number of components per integrated circuit. The article outlines the eventual physical limitations of having so many components crammed onto a single chip, such that eventually we would reach the limit of miniaturization at the atomic level. Information found in this article became the basis for ‘Moore’s Law’, the main issue we will be discussing in our paper.
J. Condliffe, “Gizmodo,” 25 October 2013. [Online].
Available: http://gizmodo.com/whats-wrong-with-quantumcomputing-1444793497 . [Accessed 29 January 2016].
Outlined in this article are the very basic building blocks of quantum computers. While this article does not provide indepth research or the like, it does provide for us a basis for structure of topics we will be discussing about quantum computers. These topics include the building blocks of quantum computers, known as qubits, the difficulties in them, such as being unsure as to if the computers are functioning properly, and the solutions needed to move quantum computing forward.
J. K. & S. Naffziger, “Moore’s Law Might Be Slowing Down,
But Not Energy Efficiency,”
IEEE Spectrum , 31-Mar-2015.
[Online]. Available http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/hardware/moores-lawat: might-be-slowing-down-but-not-energy-efficiency.
[Accessed: 29-Jan-2016].
A trade publication discussing the slowing and eventual end to Moore’s Law. This article questions the future of computers in general. The main point we will be focusing on from this article is that if we want to continue the advancement of computers, we will have to rethink how they fundamentally operate. We will use this in our paper to transition into outlining what quantum computers are and how they function.
J. Ng and D. Abbott, “Solid state quantum computers: a nanoscopic solution to the Moore's law problem,” Smart
Electronics and MEMS II , 2001.
Similar to Powell’s article, Ng and Abbott discuss the rapidly approaching obstacle of quantum limits for traditional computers. They go into detail on three specific algorithms, namely Deutsch’s, Shor’s, and Grover’s algorithms, that describe how much computation power a quantum computer could provide. We will use these algorithms to highlight the potential benefit of everyday quantum computers in our paper.
J. R. Powell, “The Quantum Limit to Moore's Law,”
Proceedings of the IEEE Proc. IEEE , vol. 96, no. 8, pp. 1247–
1248, 2008.
In this article, notable American physicist James Powell discusses the impending physical limit to Moore’s law (he predicts by the year 2036 we will have reached the quantum limit for traditional computers). We plan to use these predictions to discuss the need for quantum computers in the near future, and how they will be used to bypass this quantum limit that we are predicted to hit in 2036.
Tarantola, “The Quantum D-Wave 2 Is 3,600 Times Faster than a Super Computer,” Gizmodo . [Online]. Available at: http://gizmodo.com/the-quantum-d-wave-2-is-3-600-timesfaster-than-a-super-1532199369. [Accessed: 29-Jan-2016].
D-Wave 2 is an experimental quantum computer. This article discuss the details of the DW 2 as well as both the advantages and disadvantages of this ‘prototype’ quantum computer. These include having an absurd amount of processing power but having to sacrifice practicality because it requires very specific conditions in order to run. We will use the information on DW2 found in this article to formulate possible solutions to some of the obstacles quantum computers face.
This is a very important topic in the field of computer engineering, as it observes the current trend towards stalemate with physics based on the current hardware model. It introduces an alternative model that can keep innovation going beyond that boundary. By looking to fundamentally change how computers are made and operate, this topic represents the future of computer engineering and the industry as a whole.
2