Jan 29 2012
IBM creates 9-nm carbon nanotube transistor
IBM has created 9-nm transistors from carbon nanotubes, the same versatile material that the world’s lightest material is constructed from and can also camouflage objects. In contrast, silicon has a theoretical limit of 10-nm, and while transistor architectures are currently pushing 22-nm, a presentation in July showed Intel could have 10-nm chips ready by 2015 (PDF). Smaller architectures not only lead to smaller chips, but also lower power usage — something that the researchers say the carbon transistor delivered even better than expected.
It’s still very early stages for the technology, as there are a couple of major barriers to overcome: any metal in the carbon mix will cause the whole transistor to short-circuit, and there’s no known way to reliably place the nanotubes in perfect alignment to form complex circuits. Still, while it might be a while until this reaches your laptop or phone, it’s good to know that Moore’s Law has a future.
Image credit: Geoff Hutchison / Flickr
Article source: http://www.theverge.com/2012/1/29/2754740/ibm-9-nm-carbon-nanotube-transistor
