5. The age of information – getting smaller
David Blockley · Oxford University Press eBooks · 2012
‘The age of information — getting smaller’ examines the technology behind the information revolution. Information can be expressed digitally as patterns of high and low voltage, or ‘bits#x2019;. Transistors can modulate this voltage, and groups of transistors linked together allow this information to be manipulated. Modern information technology is only possible thanks to the miniaturisation of electronics and the use of semiconductors. Modern techniques allow millions of transistors to be linked together on a single silicon chip. This process of miniaturisation will continue through research on quantum computing, which uses sub-atomic particles as bits, and nanotechnology, which could create machines the size of a biological cell.