Quantum FPGA breaks million-gate barrier.

EDN, April, 1999 by Chance, Slim

QUICKLOGIC CORP HAS RELEASED preliminary information on a so-called quantum FPGA that shows promise of encompassing millions of gates. By taking advantage of quantum effects, in which conventional 0 and 1 logic states become a "cloud" of all possible states, members of the new FPGA family can provide--in theory, at least--nearly infinite logic capacity. A single gate in what QuickLogic has dubbed a qASIC (quantum ASIC) simultaneously processes all possible sets of inputs. Combinations of gates operate as a cloud of logic, assuming the identity of all conceivable functions.

A distinguishing feature of quantum devices, according to QuickLogic, involves observing a device's output. Observing an output collapses the cloud of possible logic states from...