Toshiba 2001 Annual Report Download - page 34

Successful Development of Single Photon Sensor Realizes the Ultimate Concept
in Encryption
Toshiba Research Europe Ltd. in the UK has developed a highly sensitive, low-noise, single
photon sensor that is critical to the application of quantum encryption. Realizing the ulti-
mate concept in encryption, the quantum encryption system carries digital data of an en-
cryption key on a stream of single photons via an optical fiber, making eavesdropping to
gain unauthorized access to data completely impossible. Toshiba introduced a compound-
semiconductor quantum dot structure to a Field Effect Transistor (FET) device. By doing
so, it became the first company to successfully detect single photons coming into the
quantum dot structure as electrical signal output from the FET structure.
XML Database Engine for Knowledge Management
Companies accumulate vast amounts of data. Extensible Markup Language (XML), a next-
generation Internet language that seamlessly integrates a variety of data, is attracting
attention as a means to manage such data. Toshiba has developed an XML Database
Engine for a knowledge management system that realizes high-speed retrieval and high-
level analysis of huge volumes of XML data, including sales data, memos and mail.
The capabilities of the XML query language developed by Toshiba surpass those of
Structured Query Language (SQL) used in Relational Databases. Use of the engine sup-
ports easy development of powerful XML-based knowledge management systems.
GigaBaseTM Distributed Memory Data Management Middleware
GigaBaseTM, Toshiba’s newly developed distributed database management system (DBMS),
achieves a maximum 100-speed transaction processing performance and alleviates burdens
on systems engineering. GigaBaseTM uses the increasingly rich resources of machine mem-
ories and communications capabilities to provide a new platform for network-oriented
system integration that fuses operating systems, communications and databases. Since
the system employs a data structure that makes maximum use of the characteristics of
computer memories, it is 10 to 100 times faster than conventional DBMS that store data
on hard disk drives. GigaBaseTM enables systems engineers to accurately estimate sys-
tems performance at the design stage. This not only raises the productivity of system
development, but also provides greater flexibility in design change, load distribution,
performance tuning and system expansion.
Successful Room-temperature Operation of a Single-electron Transistor Circuit for
High-level Information Processing
Toshiba is the first company in the world to have succeeded in room-temperature oper-
ation of a single-electron transistor circuit. The circuit has an element structure charac-
terized by undulation in the order of several nanometers on a semiconductor surface.
Previously such circuits operated only at temperatures under –200˚C using liquid nitro-
gen or liquid helium as a coolant. The new circuit was achieved by creating an extremely
thin silicon layer of 2.5 nanometers and optimizing chemical processing techniques on its
surface, which in turn formed nanometer-scale undulations. Single-electron devices will
be used to develop DRAMs with 1,000 times the memory capacity of present versions,
and super-high-speed, low-power-consumption LSIs. For example, the incorporation of
this technology in cellular phones has allowed for highly sophisticated functions, including
sound input and image recognition.
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