Engineered to a T

The nanocryotron, also known as the nTron, is made up of a single layer of niobium nitride that is deposited on an insulator in a pattern that roughly resembles a capital “T.” However, the area where the base of the T joins the crossbar narrows to about one tenth of its width.

The niobium nitride’s superconductivity is destroyed as a result of the sudden crushing of electrons as they pass through the T’s base unimpeded, resulting in heat that spreads into the crossbar and destroys the material.As a result, the crossbar current can be turned off by applying a current to the base of the T.As a result, the switch is the fundamental component of the circuit in a digital computer.

The crossbar’s current will not resume until the junction cools back down after the base’s current has been turned off.That doesn’t take long because liquid helium cools the superconductor.However, the circuits are unlikely to exceed the 1 gigahertz of current chips.In any case, they could be valuable for some lower-end applications where speed isn’t so significant as energy effectiveness.