Thermodynamics of a Simple Endoreversible Model for Computer Gates

In a world increasingly dependent on digital computers, understanding the relationship between information theory and thermodynamics is essential. A recent attempt to address this issue was made by A. De Vos who, using a reversible model within the framework of finite-time thermodynamics, derived Carnot’s law, Landauer’s principle, Ohm’s law, and even Moore’s law. Following De Vos et al., this paper first recovers the efficiency of Curzon and Ahlborn, and then establishes the so-called endoreversible Landauer principle for a traditional computer gate, assuming the gate operates in the Maximum Power regime. However, two other regimes are particularly important: the Omega function and the Efficient Power function. By considering these, we obtain the corresponding thermodynamic efficiencies and compare them against that of the Maximum Power regime.