Self Assembling Chips

User rating: 4.7 / 5 after 96 vote(s)

This microprocessor cross section shows empty space in between the chipacutes wiring. Wires are usually insulated with a glass-like material. IBM has integrated self-assembly techniques long confined to laboratories with its manufacturing lines to cr ...
This microprocessor cross section shows empty space in between the chip's wiring. Wires are usually insulated with a glass-like material. IBM has integrated self-assembly techniques, long confined to laboratories, with its manufacturing lines to create a test version of its latest microprocessors that use vacuum gaps to insulate the miles of nano-scale wire that connect hundreds of millions of transistors. The breakthrough reduces electrical interference, raises processor performance, and lowers energy consumption. Credit: IBM

In nature a phenomenon called "self assembly" is a delicate process that forms seashells, creates the enamel on teeth and transforms water into complex snowflakes. IBM Research has, for the first time ever, applied "self assembly" to create computer chips that are faster and smaller than ever before. IBM has figured out how to control and perfect the self assembly process to create trillions of tiny, nano-sized holes across a chip, which speed electrons that flow across wires inside the chip and reducing the power consumed by 15 percent. These chips will go into our everyday electronics such as cell phones, computers and gaming consoles, an advance that is set to drive the equivalent of two generations of Moore's Law.


Full story »
All News summaries from Nanotechnology news
All News summaries for May 03, 2007

'Nanonet' circuits closer to making flexible electronics reality

11 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
Researchers have overcome a major obstacle in producing transistors from networks of carbon nanotubes, a technology that could make it possible to print circuits on plastic sheets for applications including ...

Nanoparticle Research Points to Energy Savings

Jul 23, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
(PhysOrg.com) -- Adding just the right dash of nanoparticles to standard mixes of lubricants and refrigerants could yield the equivalent of an energy-saving chill pill for factories, hospitals, ships, and ...

Artificial Lotus Effect: Carbon nanotubes with nanoscopic paraffin coating form superhydrophobic, self-cleaning surfaces

Jul 23, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
Never wash your car again? Never clean your windows? These may well become reality if it becomes possible to produce the right coatings—coatings that imitate the self-cleaning effect of the lotus blossom.

Holey Nanoparticles Create New Tumor Imaging and Therapeutic Agent

Jul 22, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
Using a polymer that has both water-soluble and water-insoluble regions, a team of investigators from the Siteman Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence has created a nanoparticle shaped like a bialy, a close relative ...

Engineers Prove Graphene is the Strongest Material

Jul 22, 2008 | User rating: not rated yet
(PhysOrg.com) -- Research scientists at Columbia University’s Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science have achieved a breakthrough by proving that the carbon material graphene is the strongest ...
Goto Archive PhysOrg Forum Goto Archive Video Goto Archive Editorials Goto Archive Free Magazines Goto Archive Newsletter

News Archive