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Nanotechnology To Replace Conventional CMOS

Posted by timothy on Sunday October 17, 2004 @07:50AM from the until-there's-an-ipod-nano dept.

neutron_p writes "There is a lot of hype around nanotechnology these days, but some things are going to work in a near future anyway. IMEC announced a program aimed at seeking alternatives to the current CMOS manufacturing technologies using nanotechnologies. IMEC will investigate the use of semiconducting wires, carbon nanotubes and spintronics or electron spin." (IMEC describes itself as "Europe's leading independent research center" in the fields of microelectronics and nanotechnology.)

4 of 91 comments (clear)

So... by Brandon+One · 2004-10-17 08:00 · Score: 5, Funny

Size really does matter afterall. Who knew?
Translation: by Power+Everywhere · 2004-10-17 08:00 · Score: 5, Insightful

Faster, cooler chips about a decade from now when the whole chip paradigm has shifted. Nanotech will still have an application, but not as a replacement for current methods. Instead nanotech will be integrated into new manufacturing technology from the ground up.

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BLING BLING. Meet the architecture that's changing everything.
Finally! by JorDan+Clock · 2004-10-17 08:00 · Score: 5, Interesting

Finally an application for nanotechnology that's getting some attention that doesn't involve little machines crawling around my brain and floating through my blood stream.
Ehh... by Anonymous Coward · 2004-10-17 08:07 · Score: 5, Insightful

Big IC manufacturers hate adopting radically new and risky technologies before they are forced to. I wouldn't expect CMOS to be phased out for a good while. Remember CMOS logic was designed in the early 60s, but most IC manufacturers continued to use PMOS and NMOS chips until the late 80s and early 90s when the size and number of MOSFETs going into ICs caused far too much power dissipation using NMOS/PMOS...