UK Scientists Make Transistor One Atom Long, 10 Atoms Wide

Bibek Paudel points out a story about the latest step forward in the development of nano-scale circuits. Researchers from the University of Manchester have created some of the smallest transistors ever, measuring only one atom by 10 atoms. The transistors are made out of graphene, which has the potential to replace silicon in the never-ending hunt for smaller computer technology. From NewScientist: "There are other kinds of prototype transistors in this size range. But they usually need supercooling using liquid gas, says Novoselov. The new graphene devices work at room temperature. Such prototypes are typically made by building one atom at a time, or wiring up individual molecules. Those approaches are complex and impractical, Novoselov says. By contrast, the graphene transistors were made in the same way that silicon devices are, by etching them out of larger pieces of material. 'That's their big advantage,' he says."

U of Glasgow Made Similar Nano-Switch Progress

[eldavojohn]

I submitted this in story form [slashdot.org] yesterday but also in recent news, Glasgow scientists have made a tiny switch that would make huge leaps in memory storage:

Scientists at the University of Galsgow have claimed a breakthrough that enables them to store 500,000 gigabytes squeezed onto one square inch [nanowerk.com] making way for some hilarious storage for things like cell phones and iPods. The scientists working on it divulged, "We have been able to assemble a functional nanocluster that incorporates two electron donating groups, and position them precisely 0.32 nm apart so that they can form a totally new type of molecular switching device. This is unprecedented and provides a route to produce new a molecule-based switch that can be easily manipulated using an electric field. By taking these nano-scale clusters, just a nanometer in size, and placing them onto a gold or carbon, we can control the switching ability. Not only is this a new type of switchable molecule, but by grafting the molecule on to metal (gold) or carbon means that we can potentially bridge the gap between traditional semiconductor devices and components for nanoscale plastic electronics. The key advantage of the molecule sized switch is information / transistor density in traditional semi-conductors. Molecule sized switches would lead to increasing data storage to say 4 Petabits per square inch. This breakthrough shows conceptually that this is possible (showing the bulk effect) but we are yet to solve the fabrication and addressing problems. The fact these switches work on carbon means that they could be embedded in plastic chips so silicon is not needed and the system becomes much more flexible both physically and technologically. Since these switches are little balls of metal oxide they are made of similar stuff to normal semi-conductors but are much easier to manipulate as discrete molecular units." You can read more about it in Nature's Nanotechnology publication [nature.com]. In related news, researchers have claimed to harness terahertz radiation using circuits [telegraph.co.uk].

Another advancement in nanotechnology, thought I would post it here since it's probably not going to be used.

alas

[clickclickdrone]

Of course, this being the UK, we'll give the technology away or sell the company that owns it to an overseas one for 50p.

Re:Wait...

[hardburn]

Further, what exactly is a "liquid gas"?

I'm not impressed

[cashdot]

Researchers from the University of Manchester have created some of the smallest transistors ever, measuring only one atom by 10 atoms.

It's funny, how the word "create" is streched here. From what I read, there is no evidence that they actually build one of those. Rather, I seems that this transistor exists only in theory. Having done research in molecular electronics, I know how difficult, and in most cases probably outright impossible it is, to implemnent such a theoretical construct in reality. Nice sketch indeed, but how you are going to build it? Is it stable at higher* temperatures? How do isolate it from the substrate? How would build several of those?

* temperatures above absolute zero that are economically achievable.

Etching is good, but it's only one part

[Kythe]

This technology (and other similar developments using graphene/carbon) seems very promising. And I'm glad they could solve one part of the fabrication process using steps that are already in use (etching).

However, there remains another issue when using these devices to construct circuits: patterning. Right now, that's generally done with lithography, and though several ideas are being worked on, we simply cannot yet use lithography to pattern devices anywhere near this small.

Don't get me wrong: it's good that such technology is out there waiting for us once the patterning tech catches up. But until that happens, this stuff will likely remain in the lab.

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Cool, but call me when it is cheap.

[bheer]

Uh, no, the challenges to a *feasible* electric car are mostly technological. And no, boil-the-ocean schemes along the lines of "if only the government will mandate electric refill stations along the freeway" are not a political barrier, except in the minds of some activists. Any solution that requires massive up-front investments is a poor engineering solution.

The real problem with an electric car is that *storing* electricity is a hard problem. And unless your electric car runs on rails, you will need to store electricity.

Incidentally, cars aren't the only ones with this problems -- laptops and mobile phones have exactly the same problem.

Now, recent advances in nanotech will help batteries improve, and we may even see practical capacitor-type storage devices. And when we get to that point, the electric car will be a reality.

WARNING

[Anonymous Coward]

*** WARNING ***

Link in parent is malicious. Do not click.

Re:Cool, but call me when it is cheap.

[Dragonslicer]

A little extra time taken writing the program isn't much of a price to pay for the hours and hours of processor time and RAM/HD space saved by people using the application either..

The ones paying the developers ten times more than a better CPU, an extra GB of memory, and an extra hundred GB of disk space would cost might disagree with that.

Re:think step up transformers

[SilentBob0727]

DC Transformers can't exist because transformers rely on the principle of electromagnetic induction, which requires a constantly changing magnetic field, which is a property DC does not exhibit by virtue of being constant.

Step-up DC transformers would require an inverter (to convert to AC), followed by an AC transformer, followed a full-wave rectifier (to convert back to DC). Want to calculate the minimum efficiency lost on each step? Yeah, me neither.