[extropy-chat] IBM Claims Nanotech Breakthrough

Giu1i0 Pri5c0 gpmap at runbox.com
Wed Dec 10 06:58:31 UTC 2003


>From BizReport: Researchers at IBM Corp. claim they have made an important
breakthrough in the race to design circuitry at the molecular level: a
system that works with existing methods of electronics manufacturing. In a
paper being released Monday at an industry conference in Washington, D.C.,
IBM researchers Chuck Black and Kathyrn Guarini say they used a naturally
occurring pattern of molecules as a stencil to etch flash memory circuitry
into silicon.
Other researchers are experimenting with using self-assembling, or naturally
forming, patterns of molecules to build very tiny circuitry. Doing so is
believed to be necessary if the high-tech industry can continue to pack more
transistors into smaller spaces - the process that continually makes
computing faster and less expensive. But the IBM scientists believe they are
the first to use the molecular patterns not as circuits that have to be
connected to larger wires, but as stencils that light can be shone through
to create circuitry in silicon. That would make it more likely to work with
existing processes, potentially saving money in manufacturing.
IBM predicts prototype devices using the technique could emerge in three to
five years.
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