FuzzyLumpkins
10-30-2012, 12:06 AM
IBM's next-gen chips may swap silicon for carbon nanotubes
y Jay Alabaster, IDG News Service
Oct 29, 2012 6:46 AM
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IBM has hit a milestone in its quest to come up with a successor to silicon computer chips.
The company said Sunday its research into semiconductors based on carbon nanotubes, or CNTs, has yielded a new method to accurately place them on wafers in large numbers. The technology is viewed as one way to keep shrinking chip sizes once current silicon-based technology hits its limit.
IBM said it has developed a way to place over 10,000 transistors made from CNTs on a single chip, two magnitudes higher than previously possible. While still far below the density of commercial silicon-based chips—current models in desktop computers can have over a billion transistors—the company hailed it as a breakthrough on the path to using the technology in real-world computing.
The company made the announcement to mark the publication of an article detailing the research in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.
Intel's latest processors are built using silicon transistors with 22-nanometer technology, and simpler NAND flash storage chips have been demonstrated using "1X" technology somewhere below that, but modern manufacturing is nearing its physical limits. Intel has predicted it will produce chips using sizes in the single digits within the next decade.
more at http://www.pcworld.com/article/2013229/ibms-next-gen-chips-may-swap-silicon-for-carbon-nanotubes.html
Note the use of the present participle because its not a done deal yet but the method is sound. Currently silicone is bombarded with ions to dope sections creating the transistors. This method grows the tubes in troughs placed in the wafer. I am not sure what the substrate is atm but it is a breakthrough to say the least.
y Jay Alabaster, IDG News Service
Oct 29, 2012 6:46 AM
IBM has hit a milestone in its quest to come up with a successor to silicon computer chips.
The company said Sunday its research into semiconductors based on carbon nanotubes, or CNTs, has yielded a new method to accurately place them on wafers in large numbers. The technology is viewed as one way to keep shrinking chip sizes once current silicon-based technology hits its limit.
IBM said it has developed a way to place over 10,000 transistors made from CNTs on a single chip, two magnitudes higher than previously possible. While still far below the density of commercial silicon-based chips—current models in desktop computers can have over a billion transistors—the company hailed it as a breakthrough on the path to using the technology in real-world computing.
The company made the announcement to mark the publication of an article detailing the research in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.
Intel's latest processors are built using silicon transistors with 22-nanometer technology, and simpler NAND flash storage chips have been demonstrated using "1X" technology somewhere below that, but modern manufacturing is nearing its physical limits. Intel has predicted it will produce chips using sizes in the single digits within the next decade.
more at http://www.pcworld.com/article/2013229/ibms-next-gen-chips-may-swap-silicon-for-carbon-nanotubes.html
Note the use of the present participle because its not a done deal yet but the method is sound. Currently silicone is bombarded with ions to dope sections creating the transistors. This method grows the tubes in troughs placed in the wafer. I am not sure what the substrate is atm but it is a breakthrough to say the least.