[extropy-chat] [fwd] Molecular Electronics progress...

[Damien Broderick]

[our old pal Robert Bradbury posted this on another list:]

For those of you who don't believe nanotechnology is coming...

The NY Times is reporting [1] that Hewlitt-Packard is
publishing a paper in the J. of Applied Physics
documenting the use of nanoimprint lithography
to create a type of switch (a "cross-bar latch") that
can perform some types of logic operations.  At a trillion
switches per cm^2 this is at least 10,000 times the density
of current chips.  They are looking at commercial applications
within 5 years.  With major companies and 55 labs working on
this approach there is a significant probability there may
be some success.

Molecular Electronics may be the first real nanotechnology
applications we will see (because the semiconductor industry
is facing "hitting the wall" and the breaking of Moore's Law).
But once it becomes clear to enough scientists that devices
can be built at the molecular level then the floodgates will
open to things like *real* nanorobots.

1. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/01/technology/01nano.html
    [This link is only good for a week and requires registration.]

Robert