Ciro Santilli @cirosantilli  40

In the past, most computer designers would have their own fabs.

But once designs started getting very complicated, it started to make sense to separate concerns between designers and fabs.

What this means is that design companies would primarily write register transfer level, then use electronic design automation tools to get a final manufacturable chip, and then send that to the fab.

It is in this point of time that TSMC came along, and benefied and helped establish this trend.

The term "Fabless" could in theory refer to other areas of industry besides the semiconductor industry, but it is mostly used in that context.

Examples under verilog, more details at Verilator.

Examples under vhdl, more details at: GHDL.

Reaches 2 mK^[ref]. youtu.be/upw9nkjawdy?t=487 from Video "Building a quantum computer with superconducting qubits by Daniel Sank (2019)" mentions that 15 mK are widely available.

Used for example in some times of quantum computers, notably superconducting quantum computers. As mentioned at: youtu.be/uPw9nkJAwDY?t=487, in that case we need to go so low to reduce thermal noise.

Example: Figure "caesium-137 decay scheme"

The half-life of radioactive decay, which as discovered a few years before quantum mechanics was discovered and matured, was a major mystery. Why do some nuclei fission in apparently random fashion, while others don't? How is the state of different nuclei different from one another? This is mentioned in Inward Bound by Abraham Pais (1988) Chapter 6.e Why a half-life?

The term also sees use in other areas, notably biology, where e.g. RNAs spontaneously decay as part of the cell's control system, see e.g. mentions in E. Coli Whole Cell Model by Covert Lab.

Modulation basically means encoding data on a carrier wave.

Image that we are at a point in history where spark-gap transmitters can send Morse code.

But now people want to send voice. How to do it?

It would not be practical without modulation: Why can't you send voice without modulation?