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Light-Producing Nanotubes Could Mean Faster Chips
CannibalBob writes "From PCWorld: Researchers at IBM have used carbon molecules to emit light, a breakthrough that could replace silicon as the foundation of chips and lead to faster computers and telecommunication equipment. This is the first time light has ever been generated from a molecule by applying electricity. Read the article."
First molecule to emit light when electricity is applied? That would surprise the people working on organic LEDs, not to mention slightly older guys like Thom Edison, who managed to coax light out of graphite coated thread....
Well, Black Body Radiation is the phenomenon where something emits light as it is heated up, and yes this means that you can make pretty much anything give off light by making it really hot. This is how incandescent light bulbs work, the tungsten filament has a high resistance, so when electricity passes through it heats up and gives off light. Though this article is slim on the details, I imagine this new discovery does not involve simply causing the molecules to heat up to the point where they emit light. We all know the current problems processors have with heat dissipation, so I believe this is something that would be avoided.
That's also how neon lights work at the atomic level. Electricity excites an electron to a higher orbit, electron gives off light when it drops down to its original orbit.