Nanocomputer-like Memory Device
February 20th, 2007Breakthrough research that can pave the way for Nanocomputer-like memory microprocessors is taking place at the University of California. Professor Qing Jiang of the school’s Bourns College of Engineering is designing the prototype for a switch-like device that is based on Nanotechnology. Specifically, the device would use carbon-based Nanotubes that can mimic the switching the functionality of silicon-based microprocessors.
To understand how such a device would work, think of a telescope with an outer and inner chamber to enable it to move its lenses back and forth. Professor’s Jiang’s device would consist of two Nanotubes that work in the same manner, one acting as the inner tube and the other as the outer tube, able to move back and forth as needed. This activity and movement of the Nanotubes would make it possible for them to represent one of three possible switching positions at any moment in time, using an electrostatic charge as the conduction path.
These devices offer significantly faster read and write times than the computer industry’s current flash drive offerings. The Nanotube-based design is significantly smaller than its flash based counterpart as well.
As reported earlier in this blog, the move towards Nanotechnology-based computer technology is moving at a breakneck pace, and this design by Professor Jiang is one more step in that direction. An article outlining his research is available online and can be read here.
Carbon Nanotubes
February 19th, 2007Since the carbon nanotubes nearly fifteen years ago, two types of nanotubes has been discovered and are being used for various applications. The two types of carbon nanotubes known as single wall carbon nanotube (SWNT) and multiple wall carbon nanotube (MWNT) not only has been discovered but they have been successfully prepared and used in commercial applications. These carbon nanotubes are similar to cylinders, however a single wall carbon nanotube has only one cylinder while a multi wall tube has many rested cylinders.
Most single wall nanotubes (SWNT) have a diameter of approximately 1 nm and it is very expensive to produce. The single wall nanotube will play an important role in future carbon nanotechnology. The structure of single wall nanotube can be conceptualized by wrapping a single layer of graphene to form a cylinder. The advantages of single wall nanotubes over multi wall nanotubes are that these nanotubes display excellent electrical properties and therefore are ideal for many electronics applications. In multi wall nanotubes (MWNT), multiple layers of graphite are rolled to form a tube and the advantages of MWNT are improves chemical resistance.
Some of the important properties of carbon nanotubes include excellent tensile strength and excellent elastic modulus. Due to a unique electronic structure of single atomic graphite layer, the electrical current density in metallic nanotubes may have several hundred times greater than the metals such as copper or silver. The main uses of these single wall or multiple wall carbon nanotubes will be in various nanotechnology engineering in the days ahead. These nanotubes are already being used in composite fibers, steel and various other electrical and electronic applications.
Racing towards the First NanoComputer: the Quantum Clock is Ticking Away
January 26th, 2007Computer manufacturers seems to be hurtling towards realizing one of the great dreams of Nanotechnology, the creation of the first Nanocomputer. Such a computer, by definition, would use atoms and molecules instead of silicon chips to transmit information. In order to understand how this would work, you have to understand that a computer, at its essence, is little more than a series of switches in an ‘on’ and ‘off’ state. Each switch occupies a position that represents an exponential number. Through a combination of ‘on’ or ‘off’ states, large numbers can be represented. Atoms, of course, cannot be ‘on’ or ‘off’—but they can occupy different positions in space, and this property can be leveraged to duplicate the same switching mechanism in a silicon-based computer. When that day arrives, the Nanocomputer, one that functions solely in the Quantum world, will be here.Before then, however, the computer industry will take incremental steps towards migrating over to this new technology. This will mean using hybrid technology, combining the Nanotechnology with existing silicon-based circuits, to increase the operating capacity and efficiency of computers. Moore’s Law, which states that technology would double every 18 months, would be turned on its head as the advances of Nanotechnology accelerate the pace of technological progress beyond the rate that Gordon Moore predicted.
The industry has shown that it is taking those incremental steps already. Some of the notable achievements include a technique by an IBM research team that claims they were able to transform iron and platinum into a Nanoparticle that can hold a magnetic charge for up to 10 years, making today’s flash drives obsolete. Other research teams, such as Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, developed their own circuits utilizing Nanotubes as Field Effect Transistors.
Recently, however, the boldest of announcements was made by Intel President and CEO Paul Otellini. He claimed the company was developing a chipset based on 45 nanometer silicon technology, and processors based on this technology would ship in the second half of 2007. At this breakneck pace, the full-fledged Quantum computer will be only a few years away. Read the article here.
