Materials opportunities for low-energy computing

This issue focuses on the materials opportunities for reducing energy consumption in the different stacks of the compute hardware—devices, memory, interconnects, and microelectronics packaging. The thermodynamics of computing to understand the minimum “compute energy limits” that can be aspired is briefly reviewed. One of the most long-standing limits that remain largely ignored from a technology standpoint, the Landauer limit, is discussed. The relationship between thermodynamics and information, starting with Maxwell’s paradox, is introduced.