IBM demos 'chip on a molecule'
A functioning processor on a single molecule has
been created by IBM scientists.
Nanocircuit compared to human hair
The first computer circuit to be built on a single molecule has been unveiled by researchers in the US.
It was assembled on a single carbon nanotube, a standard component of any nanotechnologist’s toolkit. The circuit is less than a fifth of the width of a human hair and can only be seen through an electron microscope.
The latest design consists of 12 transistors made of two different metals. They are laid along the length of a carbon nanotube, essentially a rolled up sheet of carbon atoms, to create what is known as a ring oscillator.
The finished circuit is not designed to be used in a computer chip. Instead, it is a proof of principle that allowed the research team to test the switching speed of its design.
Using this setup, the researchers showed they could achieve a speed of 50 megahertz, hundreds of times slower than the gigahertz speeds of silicon processors seen in most personal computers.
Even so, the researchers say the circuit is 100,000 times faster than any previously recorded for a device made with a carbon nanotube.
That’s 7 times faster than my first desktop PC — in “Turbo” mode!
Posted: Fri - March 24, 2006 at 07:18 AM