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Molecule Sized Transistors
IceFoot writes "Bell Labs announced it has created organic transistors with a single-molecule channel length, more than a factor of ten smaller than anything that has been demonstrated even with the most advanced lithography techniques. The really cool part is the transistors assemble themselves: the molecules do the work of finding the electrodes and attaching themselves. Webcast on Wednesday, October 17, 2001 at 3:00 p.m. Eastern time"
Now for step 2: Can we do this and make it cost-efficient?
And Step 3: Can we make new things with this that we couldn't before, or will this just help us shrink down current things?
And Step 4: How can this make us more money (only the salespeople worry about this one)?
And don't forget Step 5: How can this get us laid (only the engineers typically worry about that one)?
So how do we get smaller than this? Smaller molecules? Atoms? Sub-atomic particles? Photons?
It just seems like there is a finite limit to how small we can make these things, and it looks like we're approaching that limit, so where to next? Get rid of transistors all together and use a different method? Optical matricies that perform switching functions? Who knows, but I know I'm excited to find out what happens next.
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where it said that this discovery would be a historical "bookend" in the transistor world.
I wonder if this will prove to be true, or if, like so many feats of miniaturization, be proven incorrect further down the line.
And God said, "Let there be Windows"
And behold, the earth was without form and void,
save a giant blue glow upon the heavens.
Webcast on Wednesday, October 17, 2001 at 3:00 p.m. Eastern time
[flame]It only got posted on the front page at 4:20 Eastern. Awesome timing as usual.[/flame]
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With single molecule transistors, wouldn't there be reliability concerns? After all, the uncertainty principle could wreak havoc on a circuit that is too small. Both information processing and durability would be hampered.
BlackGriffen
molecular-scale transistors that rival conventional silicon transistors in performance
And rival here means what? Slower, but will become faster; Slower, but less power? Aren't we aiming for superior in all facets, not just size?
factor of ten smaller...
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In what dimensions? Width, Area, Volume? What are the actual dimensions, and not just the molecule switch, but the whole gate arrangement?
A good switch perhaps, but it looks as though it is still hooked up to conventional circuitry, unless I'm reading there diagram incorrectly. This isn't so much nano-technology, as a nano-coating on existing technology. Self assembly doesn't impress me in a coating.
Self-assemble the paths in and out of the circuit and then we'll talk.
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